Game of Shadows
by Adrian King1
Summary: 'So, summary. I am in the Naruto world. I have a name that isn't mine and I have a really nerfed version of the Gamer. Is that all? Am I forgetting something?... Right, Inventory.' At that I received yet another disappointment.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 1**

I died.

As simple as that. It wasn't an accident. Nor was I murdered. I was just unlucky. I had cancer. Lung cancer to be exact. The funny thing was, if you have that type of humor at least, that I had never smoked, ever. I had never tried and never intended to. But fate's a bitch, it seems.

So, I lived for three years on a constant pity party. My family suffered, my friends suffered, everyone that was relatively close to me entered a depressive mood with just seeing me. It was maddening, seriously. I was going to die anyway, wasn't that enough? Apparently not, I had to see the sadness and hurt in their expressions every single time. Don't get me wrong, at the start it was somewhat comforting that they cared so much. But as time passed it just made me sick. No pun intended.

So, I distracted myself. I dove face first into books after an aunt of mine bought one for me. And so, it started, my addiction to any type of entertainment. Months passed with my head buried in books, mostly fantasy but sometimes I chose something else just for a change.

After that came tv programs, from cartoons to normal series, films (or movies, whatever floats your boat) and even documentaries. After that I delved into anime after seeing Naruto. Naturally the next step was manga and their Korean and Chinese counterparts. As I kept going deeper and deeper, I ended up reading Light Novels. And I stayed between all those options until what was my last year of life started. That's when I took my last step into the abyss.

Fan Fiction.

Even I don't know how I ended up in that God forsaken place. But I did and I loved every second of that hell hole. Well… not every second. Some people have a couple of problems in the head. I mean, I get it, some people are into Harry x Draco. It's ok. I don't like it at all, but it's ok. However, when you realize that there're people that write Harry x _Snape_ you understand that there's not something like too much for people. There's no limit for humanity's imagination, for good or bad. Bad in this case, if you asked me.

And like that in a couple of paragraphs I described what were my escape mechanisms. My only breath of air on the sea of pity that surrounded me. But I had a time limit and I reached it eventually. I was kind of sad that I wouldn't get to know how a lot of stories ended. As for everything else, well. Three years had made it so that I had tied all the knots. I had had long chats with every family member and friend that I could, more than once with most of them. Everything that had to be said was told.

People must have thought I was crazy with how calmly I took to my death. But really, what was I supposed to do? Cry to sleep every day and make things worse for everyone? Nu huh. There were better things to do with my time. Like watch videos of rats fighting for food with Linkin Park music. That was worth every second. I did cry myself to sleep the first month or so, I'll admit.

They could also have thought that because sometimes I chuckled to myself thinking that some ROB would take me to another world, preferably one from an anime or something. But alas, truck-kun didn't think I was worthy of being a chosen one apparently.

So, I died. There was nothing spectacular about it. There was no me seeing the light or feeling my soul leave my body. There was no doors of heaven or stairs to hell. Nothing. Everything just was and then everything just wasn't. Like when you fall asleep. You don't even notice that you do but you obviously do.

Except… I noticed. Because I was very much aware of the nothingness that surrounded me. It wasn't quite the darkness that was described sometimes. Or maybe it was. It was a bit confusing. It was dark, yes, but I saw… can you see without eyes? I didn't even know if I had eyes or not. I couldn't tell, really. Back to the point. It was like there were different colored lights everywhere, but when I tried to focus on one it was only darkness. All lights where dark in color, barely noticeable from the pitch-black background.

And like that time passed. Nothing happened. I could only do what I had done every time I was bored to death (pun intended). I started imagining what this or that story would continue as, or maybe thinking of an 'original' story of sorts. Obviously, none of them were truly original. It just ended up being a mish mash of ideas stolen from others and put together in something that felt awesome. And obviously, I was the main character. Because, I had to feel awesome somehow.

Eventually, I run out of ideas and stories. So, I just stared at the blackness and tried to see the lights. At some point I started to think those were other souls, but I could never confirm it. It was an interesting, if not disturbing, observation to do. Didn't really change anything for me anyway, so I pushed that out of my head, even though I didn't have one. And before you say it, yes, I felt pretty stupid making Brook jokes now and then. I did kind of understand why he did them though. It was a way to deal with it. You could either cry or laugh about it. I decided to laugh. Not sure I could cry anyway, as I didn't have eyes.

All this continued until a thought crossed my mind.

'_Will I be here until my mind breaks and disappears?'_

Even I couldn't take that in stride.

Time passed as that thought came back more and more.

**[}-o-{]**

**[You have been chosen]**

I would have jumped in surprise as that message appeared in front of me, but… well, you know the drill. I stared at the square that contained the words for a minute or two, although, for all I know it could have been hours or days. It looked just like an open scroll would and had the words written in black.

After that analysis was done the darkness that had surrounded me for who knows how long started to change. Little by little it changed to a blinding white that ate everything else. Soon, there was only white.

And when the white disappeared, I woke up.

**[Welcome]**

"Wake up, Eiji!" I felt something hit my head and I instantly sat straight on reflex. What greeted me was the sight of a classroom with the teacher looking thoroughly pissed at me and the rest of the class snickering and giggling.

"Eh? Huh?" I said intelligently and everyone started laughing as the teacher's eye twitched. What on earth? I blinked.

"I'll let it slide because it's your first time. Just don't turn into a Naruto." I heard a shout of protest at that but the teacher turned around to continue the class. I didn't hear a word of what he said. I was still sitting there, stunned.

What the hell was happening? My hands balled into fists. I felt my fingers, all of them. My palms. I felt myself resting against the wood of the chair. My arms on the desk. I was seeing things. All this was a bit too much for my stimuli deprived person. How long had it been since I had merely breathed? My eyes widened.

I was breathing. And it wasn't any type of breathing. I was breathing well. It had been so, so long since I had been able to breath without difficulties. It was like the cancer… was gone. My thoughts seemed to freeze at that thought and it held the full focus of my mind for what seemed like hours, though, it couldn't be.

Still relishing in the fact that I could feel, see, smell, I thought about the situation. I was in a class. A class that I had never attended. I had never been to a classroom like this. And I was pretty sure I had never had a classmate named… Naruto…

'_Oh, no. Oh, HELL NO!'_ And surely enough, as I turned to the side, I saw a short scrawny boy with tanned skin and spiky yellow-blond hair. I gulped. _'Oh… come the fuck on, couldn't it be something fun like Pokemon instead of freaking Naruto where everybody and their mother can kill people with three hand signs at the very least?'_ That's what a part of my mind complained about.

The rest of it was just trying to wrap itself around the situation. Of course, I had read reincarnation stories and the like. A quarter of the fanfictions were like that for crying out loud. It didn't make it any easier to process though. I mean, who in their right mind truly believed they would get reincarnated and in a… 'fictional'… story at that. What the actual fuck?

As my mind felt like shutting down it drifted off back to the class. It was being given by none other than Iruka, I realized. He seemed to be introducing subjects that would be seeing at a later date. It seemed like the kind of thing to do in the first day. At that my eyes darted around the class searching for the 'main cast'. Everyone was there. From I-totally-don't-brood-to-look-cool Sasuke to I'm-not-creepy-at-all Shino. They all seemed a bit different than canon. Was I in an earlier year than canon? Or was it just the start of canon's last year of the Academy? I distractedly wondered.

"Now class," Iruka started after finishing what felt like a first class of introductions. "We'll go outside for the physical training."

"Hell yeah!" Shouted the excited pair of Naruto and Kiba. I numbly walked with everyone else. Fortunately for me, nobody seemed to take notice that I didn't seem to know how to walk for a couple of seconds. It felt really strange to do so after so long. It was like that moment in which you take a pen after not writing all summer and suddenly you feel like you don't even know how to use it. I was disturbing to realize that I had forgotten how to _walk_. How long had it truly been…?

Soon enough we were standing in a large open area. It seemed to have a path that we would probably use to run, an open space that probably was used for spars or normal physical conditioning, a little further away, outside the running course, was what seemed like a place for target practice and then there was the monstrosity that was the obstacle course in the middle. It looked like something that would get people killed. Knowing the shinobi world. It was a possibility.

"We'll start with some laps around the training area." Iruka said and I took solace in the fact that I wasn't the only one to sigh in relief. Most of the civilian (or at least not main cast people) had done so. "Don't worry, you won't be doing the obstacle course until next year." There were more sighs at that and even some complains from Kiba. Meanwhile, I was just frowning in thought. So, it seemed that I was at least a year early, maybe more. I had never been good at reading people's ages. "What are you waiting for? Start running!"

And start we did. After a few awkward seconds, I had to do conscious effort to not laugh like a madman. It was exhilarating, the feeling of rush that came from running. After so long barely able to move and then the void… it felt so freeing. So, I ran. And then I continued running. Even when my legs felt like they were going to die I continued running. My lungs weren't stopping me. They were working to their full capacity, but they weren't stopping me, and that was even more sweet.

The moment I came back to my senses I noticed that the only ones that were running close to me were Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke, all of them ahead of me. I didn't have any delusions about being at their level though. The only way I could keep up with them was because I had been ignoring my body. Soon enough I fell behind and all the clan heirs and Sakura passed me by. I didn't mind. I was still better than the rest.

"Good job everyone. Especially you, Eiji." Iruka said looking at me. I looked at him strangely, that wasn't my name. Then I remembered that he had called me that before too. "I know you fell behind in the later part but you did pretty well at the start." He commented, probably misunderstanding my expression. I didn't reply.

"Maybe we can still make a shinobi out of you, loser." Kiba said mockingly. I continued my silence as Iruka chided Kiba. There was a simple reason for my silence.

A scroll just like the ones I had seen in the void appeared in front of me. There, floating steadily in the air in front of my face. Just like the others it had a message in black. The message though, left me speechless.

**[New Skill Acquired: Running Lvl 1]**

'_Holy sh-'_

"Now, let's move on to physical conditioning." Iruka said cheerfully while the civilian students whined and groaned. I followed him to the clear area with my legs screaming at me for more rest. I didn't pay them any mind though. My focus was fully on the apparently invisible (as nobody commented on it) scroll that continued to float in front of my face.

'_Could you disappear? It would get awkward rea-'_ As soon as I had thought the word disappear, it did. That was a relief. I didn't trust my chances of doing so verbally or tapping the scroll without being noticed when I was surrounded by ninjas and ninjas in training. After that is when my mind started freaking out. And that just made me freak out even more.

'_Skills.'_ I thought and what greeted me was a scroll with the title Skills and the only thing beneath it was Running. My heart started hammering against my chest and my ears seemed to close themselves as everything went silent and I was drowned by my thoughts. _'Nononono, Perks.'_ Same thing, just that this one was empty besides the title.

Now, you may want to know the reason for my freak out. It was simple. There was no sign of me having Gamer's Mind, or Body for that matter.

'_Status.'_

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 100/100**

**Chakra Points: 50/50**

**Strength: 5**

**Dexterity: 5**

**Constitution: 5**

**Chakra: 5**

**Chakra control: E]**

'_No HP… No intelligence or wisdom for that matter.'_ I thought numbly to myself.

"Let's start with some push-ups, shall we?" Iruka said, blissfully unaware of my internal struggle. I did so together with everyone else. My mind wasn't on the training though. I was looking straight at my status screen. It told me so much and so little at the same time.

There were no Health Points and I didn't seem to have Gamer's Body. That meant that I wouldn't be able to pull a bullshit move like getting pierced right through the heart and live because the attack hadn't taken all my HP.

I also didn't have the Intelligence and Wisdom stats. That meant that I couldn't force myself to be smarter or have better memory through stat points.

Which brings us to the third thing, I didn't have Stat Points nor a Level. So, I wouldn't be able to become stronger by farming Quests (if they existed at all) and killing things. Although that last one didn't sound so good knowing that I didn't have Gamer's Mind to keep me sane.

With a sigh I closed the screen and followed Iruka's instructions through the physical conditioning. As we finished it, I received another notification.

**[New Skill Acquired: Physical Conditioning Lvl 1]**

I resisted the urge to sigh.

"Now, it's lunch break." There were cheers and sighs in relief at that. "I'll see you all in an hour at the classroom."

At that moment I went and sat in a shadow. I needed to think.

'_So, summary. I am in the Naruto world. I have a name that isn't mine and I have a _really_ nerfed version of the Gamer. Is that all? Am I forgetting something?... Right, Inventory.'_ At that I received yet another disappointment.

The screen showed me at the top and what I was wearing. I had a pair of dark brown shorts, a white t-shirt with the Konoha symbol in black in the middle and a pair of 'shinobi' sandals in black. The shocking thing was my face. I looked like _fucking_ Shisui! Or maybe a son of Kurenai would be more precise. I wasn't sure. I had short and messy pitch-black hair and red eyes so it could go either way with one having the Sharingan and the other natural red eyes. I doubted I was related to either though, the surname didn't match and there was no mention of Eiji in canon… although this could be an AU…

The disappointing part though, was that I only had five spaces in the inventory. I spent all of a second lamenting that fact before I desperately tried to expand the screen to see if there was more. There wasn't. _'I wonder if it works with one of my stats?'_ I thought dejectedly. In my mind, it was too much coincidence that I had five inventory spaces and all my stats were five.

Still with my mood down I summoned my Status screen once more. It was so plain and empty that it hurt to look at. I tried to see if I could get more information on everything. Nothing worked. It was a good thing that everything seemed to be pretty self-explanatory.

Wondering if the title did anything, I had an idea. _'Titles'_.

**[Academy Student: Improves the rate at which your stats and skills increase by 5%]**

'_Underwhelming, but useful all the same.'_ I decided to see my Skills next.

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 1**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 10%.**

**Consumption 10 Energy Points per second.]**

**[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 1**

**Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 5%.]**

I did a doubletake at the cost of Running. What the hell was up with that overly high cost? I would get tired of running after 10 seconds. What the fuck? Re-reading the skill several times I came to a conclusion. The skill wouldn't apply every time I ran. It was actually a boost to be applied on top of my normal running as it said that it increased my speed when I _activated_ it and _while_ running. I hoped I was right.

As I felt myself get hungry, I sighed. No cheat of not needing to eat for me. I probably needed to sleep too.

Standing up, I checked my inventory again. This time I ignored the disappointment of the five spaces and checked its actual content. One of the spaces was occupied by what seemed to be some kind of notebook. Taking it out was dangerous. You couldn't know when you were being spied on while inside a _Ninja_Village. The mere thought was surreal though.

I made my way back to the classroom and to what seemed to be my seat, at least for the day. I had… _my?_ Backpack there, it was a simple beige color, and I decided to _use_ it. Taking a moment to check it, I only had a notebook and pencil case. The notebook was blank. Probably for the Academy. With that out of the way, I decided to take out the other notebook from the inventory while my hands where inside the backpack.

Taking a look at it, I didn't have much problem guessing what it was. It was the diary of the _real_ Eiji Satou. I felt my blood run cold.

It seemed to have started last year. First year of actual Ninja Academy, he said. He explained that before that they had pretty much the same education as the other kids. Last year they had started being taught the shinobi rules, the ranks, missions, etc. It was a How to be a Ninja for Dummies without being taught any actual Jutsu be it nin, gen, tai, or any other.

I also learned that he was an orphan, his parents died during the Kyuubi Attack. When he was around a month old or so. From there we lived in the same orphanage as Naruto until we both started the Academy. How did I know that? It was mentioned how the matron told the other kids to stay away from the blonde because he was dangerous. I didn't take kindly to that. The original Eiji though, seemed to take her word for it.

Anyway, as we entered the Academy, we were given a place to stay at and a stipend to live with. It was a program available for all orphans apparently. It was a bit shitty, I thought, that the best option for orphans was to be a shinobi. It was practically forcing us to be ninjas. But considering a lot of the things that happened in this world, it wasn't too bad. At least it wasn't the only option we had.

When I had a pretty good idea of what my situation was, I decided to think. The first thought was: Did I actually want to be a ninja? Sure, everyone wanted to be one while watching Naruto. But once you seriously thought about it. This world was plagued with death and worse. They were 'ninja' not 'superheroes' as they made you believe. They were assassins, thieves and spies. If there was a shitty job to be done, it would probably end up in the mission hub of a Ninja village.

It wasn't the type of life I wanted to live. Not at all.

Despite that though, I _had_ to be a ninja. Why? Simple. As someone that had watched the show and read the manga, even if I wasn't as big a fan as others and had forgotten lots of things, I knew things. Things like the Sound/Sand invasion, like Pain's Assault, like the Fourth Shinobi War.

No, I refused to die as a mere civilian would in any of those scenarios. I would have the power to defend myself. Even if I didn't reach Madara and Hashirama's absurd power levels, anything would be better than nothing. I would stay as far away from the void that was death for as long as possible.

So, I would be a ninja.

With that decided, I took the diary and started reading again. During the whole thing, I couldn't help but wonder, had I taken over the body of Eiji? But I didn't dwell on that for long. I hadn't chosen this. I hadn't done anything. I was just dead and then I wasn't. If someone was responsible for this. It wasn't me.

But I felt guilty. So, I made a vow. I would follow Eiji's goal. It seemed pretty reasonable too, so that helped.

He had been told of his parents. His mother had been a Chunin while his father had been a Tokubetsu Jonin specialized in Taijutsu. Eiji's goal had been to reach further than both of them had. His thought process was that had they not been killed they would have both reached Jonin level. As such, he would make it for both of them as well as himself. He also thought that they would be proud of him if he followed their steps.

It was a goal I could get behind anyway, as it aligned with my own of getting enough power to survive this crazy world. So, I was on the path to Jonin level from now on.

There wasn't much more in the diary, sadly. Even though it was a diary, Eiji seemed to write only when something out of the ordinary happened or when he thought about something he thought diary worthy. As such, it gave me a good idea of the important stuff but it still felt a bit dull written like that. I couldn't help but wonder, was all this made up by whoever had put me in here in the first place?

I shook my head. There was no way for me to know. Sighing once more, I made a summary of the important stuff in the blank pages of the diary, leaving it separated from Eiji's original stuff. I was glad I could kind of guess where he lived by bits of information spread over several entries. He seemed to live in the same building as Naruto. And despite what a lot of fanfics said, it didn't sound so bad a building. Several others that were part of the orphan shinobi program lived there too.

With everything noted down, I put the diary back into the inventory, making sure to do so from inside the backpack for good measure. Then I sighed and checked my pockets. I had money, thank God… er, Kami? Those things would be confusing for a while. Anyway, with the reassurance that I had money I stood up and made my way outside to buy food. It was lunch break after a-

"Where are you going, Eiji?" I heard Iruka's voice from behind me. I turned around with a confused expression. "We are about to start classes again." My despair must have showed because he started chuckling as he made his way back inside the classroom.

Fuming, I went after him. As I sat down and the rest of the class made their way inside, I sighed. _'Maybe Naruto can show me where Ichiraku is, after classes.'_ I thought idly. Then my thoughts froze.

What was I going to do in the friendships department? Befriending Naruto out of the blue would be suspicious at best. The Hokage would surely keep an eye on me if I got close to him without reason. And he would be the least of my worries. What would _Danzo_ do if I got close to the Jinchuriki? There were a ton of people that could cause trouble for me if I befriended Naruto, I thought as I looked at the blonde.

He seemed to be fine anyway, this didn't seem to be one of those worlds where he was constantly attacked and shunned. Look at that goofy grin as he blatantly ignores Iruka's lecture. He was fine…

That's what I wanted to think. But he wasn't, I knew. I had Eiji's note on how kids were told to stay away from Naruto. That was all the proof I needed. Maybe he wasn't physically attacked, but there was some resentment directed at him, at the very least. The problem was, was I brave enough to do something about it?... I was disgusted at the fact that I didn't know.

Trying to keep my thoughts away I turned them to the others. Sasuke would be difficult. The only thing he respected and wanted was power. And I wasn't sure of the first part. It was pretty obvious that we were post massacre just by looking at him. Befriending him while I was a weakling was out of the question. And I kind of disliked him, so there's that.

Ino and Sakura were out too. From what I knew, they wouldn't take kindly to some random guy approaching them. Ino seemed to tolerate Chouji and Shikamaru because she probably knew they would end up as a next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho or because their parents were the previous one. I didn't have that benefit. And I refused to be treated like another Naruto by Sakura. Nope.

I wouldn't go anywhere near Kiba until I could kick his ass. I was sure if I did, he would just put me down while boosting his own ego. He looked the type. And that mixed with the fact that he was as knuckleheaded as Naruto, I would end up killing him if I ever got strong enough.

Shikamaru… would be a difficult one. He was sure to notice something was amiss, he was scary smart after all. I would have to be careful when around him specially, there was no need to add a friendship to the mix. At least not until I had a better grasp of everything in this world that I would have to know. Choji was out because being near him meant being near Shikamaru.

Shino was creepy, yes, but he wasn't too bad. He could probably use a friend as much as Naruto. His clan was sure to face some scorn. He was pretty smart himself if I recalled correctly but not overly so. He would probably not notice anything wrong if I was careful.

Hinata was extremely shy, but she wasn't too bad either. Actually, she would probably make a great friend. I couldn't think of anything bad about her, personally at least. He extreme shyness wasn't a real problem unless you were Naruto.

But first I would have to know this world. I would need a week or so to get used to Konoha. Making a map would surely help in that regard. I would have to follow Naruto around to know some places. I knew what apartment of the building I lived in due to the diary but I didn't know where the building actually _was_. After I got that I would have to explore the city to know where to buy stuff and all that. It would be a busy week for me.

While I thought all this, Iruka had been explaining the uses of Shurikenjutsu. It didn't mean only Shuriken though, as some may believe, it also included Kunai and Senbon. I barely listened though. Everything was pretty simple so far. Kunai can be used both as ranged and melee weapons. Shuriken are good only in range but they are easier and lighter. Senbon are the most difficult but the most useful and dangerous if used right. After that I tuned him out a bit, only keeping an ear open just in case.

I would need to write down everything that I could when I arrived at the apartment that night. I needed to save as much information as I could. Even if this was an AU of some sort, or if my mere presence changed everything. Some information could be useful. I couldn't turn down anything in my situation.

I couldn't plan much more than that. Get to know Konoha and the Naruto world. Get stronger in order to survive future attacks/wars. Simple but effective. Or at least I hoped so.

"Let's go to the practice targets to start with your Shurikenjutsu practice." And it had arrived at last. The moment I dreaded. I was sure I couldn't hit a target with a Kunai, a Shuriken or Kami forbid, a _Senbon_, to save my life. That wasn't even counting that I was still getting used to actually having a body again. This was going to be embarrassing.

As it turned out, everyone sucked. Well, everyone that wasn't in the main cast. Naruto sucked too, but he didn't have anyone to teach him. He would get there. As would I, if I got my way. _'After all,'_ I thought while grinning. _'Nerfed or not, the Gamer ability is the Gamer ability.'_ And to prove that point there was a screen in front of me.

**[New Skill Acquired: Shurikenjutsu**

**New Skill Tree Branch Unlocked: Shuriken Throwing (Passive) – Lvl 1**

**New Skill Tree Branch Unlocked: Kunai Throwing (Passive) – Lvl 1**

**New Skill Tree Branch Unlocked: Senbon Throwing (Passive) – Lvl 1]**

_That_ had been a pleasant surprise. What wasn't so pleasant was the meagre 10% chance of hitting the target that each of them gave me with their respective weapons. And that was on a _stationary_ target. The fact that the other students sucked too would help me in that regard. If all students could do this kind of things already it would have been bad for me. That would have been enough to rise some flags that I didn't want appearing anytime soon.

Back to the skills though, the Skill Tree thing had been a surprise. Once I opened the skills screen everything made a little more sense. Instead of as a list, skills appeared according to their skill trees extending to the right. I only had to think about a particular skill and it would show me the details. So far, the only one with more than one branch or branches at all was Shurikenjutsu. It was good to know that things like that could happen though.

"Eiji, your turn again." Iruka said, his tone showing no mockery whatsoever to the previous student lack of skill or mine for that matter. Taking a deep breath in, and relishing in how amazing it felt to be able to do so again, I stepped forward to embarrass myself once again. Even with that, I tried to follow the technique the clan heirs had used. I tried to follow Iruka's instructions. And I tried my best.

I had read about that in certain Gamer fanfics. The fact that some became so overconfident in the system that they forgot that it was a real world where they lived. I couldn't let that happen to me. Because my world was less game than most of those. If I made a mistake, I could get myself killed pretty quickly. That wouldn't happen. I was alive again. I wouldn't throw my life out the window.

I looked at my results. Three shuriken and one kunai were embedded in the targets. Not anywhere near the specific spots we were supposed to aim for. But I had hit the targets and four times out of twenty. That was better than the games percentage. As for senbon, we wouldn't be using them for practice in the academy until later and even then, we had to specifically ask for it.

I walked back to the class swelling in pride. Excitement rushed through my veins. Everything had been wonderful since I appeared here. Even the annoying nerfed Game and the, I hope the Nara don't give me a strike, troublesome situation were awesome. It felt so amazing to be and feel alive again. I couldn't wait for my turn again. I would beat the percentage again, I was sure of it.

And I did it. When my turn came I two shuriken and two kunai hit the target. One shuriken even came close to one of the circles on the target. I went back to the group while someone else took their turn. I wasn't paying attention to the others though. I was thinking to myself.

**[Shuriken Throwing has gone up a level.]**

And as that new notification appeared in front of me, I came up with my nindo.

Live life to the fullest.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

**To anyone that follows my other stories** and thinks this is Project Gamer, it's not. Project Gamer is a DxD story. This is more of a prototype and a series for when I want to take a breath of fresh air after working so much on DxD.

**To people that are new to my work** welcome, I hope you like it and if you are interested in DxD stories feel free to check out my other series.

Now, onto the story. I don't have plans for this, not really. But I have wanted to write a Gamer fic for a long time. I'm pretty tired of the extremely broken Gamer fics that are everywhere. I know it's part of the Gamer thing but really, is having a somewhat balanced game so wrong?

So that's what I'm going for. Eiji will still be pretty broken eventually but I consider it somewhat balanced anyway because the Gamer will work as a sort of Bloodline Limit. They are unfair in the world of Naruto, and so is the Gamer ability. And now that I've mentioned it, I will answer that question right now. I pretty much doubt I'll make Eiji unlock any Bloodline limit through the system.

To justify that, I'll just say this. You can be powerful without a bloodline. Look at the Yondaime, look at the Sandaime, look at Jiraiya, and correct me if I'm wrong but the Nidaime didn't have a Bloodline limit either. So, Eiji probably won't have one.

Pairings… I'm not sure as of yet. You are welcome to try and convince me though. Just, no slash.

Any ideas you have are welcome too. I'm working on this on the fly so everything you want to suggest feel free to do so. From skills, to missions, to quests, to weapons, to jutsu, you get the gist of it.

Please, leave a review, we writers feed off them.

**See you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 2**

I'm so lucky I found another orphan to follow instead of Naruto. My original plan to follow the orange clad kid back to the building had been too naïve. I had forgotten about the Jinchuriki's tendency to prank. Which was a stupid mistake for anyone remotely aware of the series. If I had gone through with my plan to follow him not only would I have been dragged all around the village but I would have most probably lost him at some point during one of his escapes.

As it was, I was fortunate enough to hear a pair of orphans talking about going back to the building and so I followed them from a distance. This had the advantage of earning me a new skill that would be dead useful in my shinobi career.

**[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 1**

**Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.**

**Consumption 10 Energy Points per second.]**

If I could get it to a higher level that is, because, as it was, it wouldn't be useful for shit. Ten seconds wasn't nearly long enough and level 1 sure as hell wouldn't hide from anything. So, I would have to grind the shit out of that skill. The problem was that, I came to realize as I spent my Energy Points in Stealth while following my unaware guides, EP's regeneration rate was complete shit.

It was official, the Game hated my guts.

The silver lining of all this was that Energy Points didn't seem to equal my stamina. I had spent them until I only had 10 left and I didn't feel any different. A little while later when I regenerated 2 more points, I spent 10 more with Stealth and I still didn't feel anything. Conclusion? Energy Points were a source for skills that didn't affect me in the slightest. It was a relief really.

Once I was inside the apartment, which was exactly as Naruto's was in the show with one kitchen/dining room, one bathroom and one bedroom, I had taken some time to see what the rate of regeneration was. The result after doing some math was roughly 2 Points every 10 minutes. Which was _shit_, let me tell you. I prayed to every god I was aware of, fictional or not, that it at least was 2% and not just flat 2, because that would be too much for my poor heart.

That deduction made sense though, as after some math I came to the conclusion that my Energy Points would regenerate completely after roughly 8 hours if it was 2%. That was a reasonable enough time to recover energy if I was exhausted. It sucked, but it was reasonable. I just needed to find a way to increase the regeneration, the total amount or decrease the consumption, or, hopefully, do all that at the same time.

Once I was done crying, almost literally, over the stupidly nerfed Game, I started cooking something to eat. Not eating lunch had been killing me all day. Fortunately for me, there was some food in the fridge for me to whip something edible up. I would have to buy something soon though. I received another possibly useful skill after this.

**[Cooking – Lvl 1**

**Improves the quality of cooked goods by 10%.]**

It wasn't much, but I held hope that I would be able to get something out of it in the long run. If I got some Energy Points with a meal, that would make me pretty happy at this point. I wasn't enough of a dreamer to wish for Stat Points after receiving disappointment after disappointment. I had come to expect the Game to dash my hopes. _'Have I jinxed it? Fuck.'_

Once I was full, I got my notebook/Eiji's diary out and started writing everything I could remember of the series. Especially the characters and their skills. The world could be an AU or the plot change a lot just by me existing in it but there were a lot of chances that the character's skills would stay relatively the same. That was my only reassurance.

I tried to concentrate in everyone from outside Konoha first, as it was more likely I would face those first. Soon, I realized a little problem. I didn't remember shit. I had never been a diehard fan of Naruto. I liked it well enough, but I had read it only once and everything else came from fanfics, which were a poor source of information at best. There was also the fact that if this was the anime world instead of the manga, I was even more screwed. I had only watched the anime before Shippuden and I hadn't even watched all of it.

I had some information on what could be considered the most important ones though. Zabuza, Haku, Orochimaru was a tricky one because he was so high level that he probably hadn't showed a lot on screen, the Sound shinobi, both the Chunin Exams ones and the Sound Four plus Kimimaro, Kabuto and his team, which I had to make some serious effort to remember, the Sand siblings. I found that I didn't remember shit from the other missions that had gone on during the anime, only that they existed and some random fact here and there. There was something about a meteorite or 'star' having a strange chakra for example… something like that. From Shippuden I could only remember the Akatsuki members and Zetsu was a mystery, for some reason I didn't remember shit about the character. I had probably not paid too much attention. After a frustrated hour, I decided to leave it be. I would try to squeeze more information later.

As a way to prevent a headache that I knew was coming my way and to possibly gain a useful skill, I decided to sit on the floor with my legs crossed and close my eyes. Then I proceeded to try and meditate. Or more specifically, try to clear my head of as many random thoughts as I could. It was easier said than done though and I didn't have too much success but I _did_ calm down a bit. Some long but relaxed minutes later I opened my eyes to another screen.

**[New Skill Acquired: Meditation – Lvl 1]**

Opening it for more details I got sight of this:

**[Meditation (Active) – Lvl 1**

**Increases the recovery rate of Energy Points and Chakra Points by 5% while active. You can't move while using this skill.]**

Well, depending on how high I could get that percentage, this could be a pretty useful skill. Pushing that aside I started considering what my best bet would be in order to get powerful in the possible two years that I had before canon.

My first though was the same that it usually was in fanfics, chakra control. Starting to work in my chakra control right now would do wonders to improve my strength, especially considering that I had small chakra pool. Or I thought so, as I didn't have any way of actually confirming that what I had was small. It would also help with pretty much any path that I decided to follow that wasn't a Taijutsu specialist.

Soon I thought of a problem though. I was an orphan. How was I supposed to explain that I had knowledge of the chakra control exercises all the way up to water walking? In the show not even Sakura had known when Kakashi taught them, or at least that's what I remembered. So, how had an orphan that had literally no one to teach him found out? I couldn't very well expect them to believe that I had come up with them myself. No one would believe it, and even if they did, I didn't have the confidence to be able to maintain the façade of a prodigy of that stature even with some foreknowledge.

No, it was better to work with what someone in my position had knowledge of. The only remotely suspicious skill that I had right now was Meditation and that wouldn't be too difficult to explain in my opinion. Furthermore, getting what I had to high enough levels would take enough time. I had time and I wasn't Naruto. I didn't need to worry myself with flashy jutsus. At least not for some time.

With that decision made, I looked at the clock and saw that I had a few hours before I needed to go to bed. Sitting down I activated Meditation again with a thought.

While the skill was active, I considered my options for the future. Not being from a clan sucked as I wouldn't have any outside help for my development. But it was the price of not looking suspicious for any family members so I would have to deal with it.

As far as I knew, all Academy students without any background came out with only the basic skills and the Academy Three Jutsu, if Sakura's skillset was to be believed. Body Replacement, Transformation and Basic Clone Jutsu. The thought of only having that in my arsenal was a depressing one. However, I soon realized that it wasn't too bad though. I wasn't going to look like a main character at all, but I could definitely do _something_ with those three. It would depend though, on how far the Game let me improve them with levels.

In the worst-case scenario, I would have to work especially hard on my Taijutsu until I made Genin and got someone to teach me some more advanced Jutsu. It would suck, but it was my only option as of that moment. On second thought, it wouldn't be too bad. Lee and Guy were pretty cool once you got passed the outfit and their… quirky personalities.

After those thoughts I decided to just focus on meditating. I wasn't quite sure if putting more effort in the skills affected their grow but I could try. I didn't have anything better to do at the moment anyway. I had had enough thinking for a day.

As a way to clear my head I decided to simply feel. After so long being ill and especially after the void, letting myself feel my own body, the clothes against my skin, the floor beneath me and the air passing through my nose and mouth, it just felt amazing. So, I relished in the feelings that I had almost forgotten.

There was a surprise for me though. Quickly I started to feel something else aside from air and blood flowing inside my body. It was difficult to describe but once I got the feeling of it, I didn't want to let go. I kept my mind focused on it. It felt somewhat warm but at the same time I fell the hairs on my body stand. It felt… amazing. I couldn't quite describe it any other way.

Soon, I had to end Meditation though. I didn't want to go to sleep too late. The Academy was my only source of training right now. I wasn't going to waste it.

**[Meditation has gone up a level.]**

'_Nice.'_ I thought with a smile. I didn't know how long ago it had leveled up though. I could only hope it hadn't taken me a whole hour to do so. I didn't want to think how long it would take on the higher levels.

Taking a deep breath in, I looked at the clock and confirmed that I still had time. I didn't want to continue meditating though, I could easily spend too much time doing so and it would get late. I really didn't want to confirm if I needed sleep right now. Considering that I needed food, it was almost certain that sleep was a must too.

I decided it was better to do something else, so I was sitting at the table with my notebook out and drawing a map from the Academy to the building. Which, maybe not surprisingly, was pretty close. It made sense when you thought that it was a building used for the orphan shinobi program.

As such, I was finished pretty quickly so I decided to continue detailing as much as I could remember. The normal buildings where dull, the shops were left blank. Once I confirmed what type of shops, they were I would differentiate them. Over all, it was a half decent map if I do say so myself. Better than I thought it would be, definitely.

**[New Skill Acquired: Cartography – Lvl 1]**

I grinned. That was what I was waiting for.

**[Cartography – Lvl 1**

**Improves the quality of maps drawn by 5%.]**

'_As everything so far, let's hope it gets good enough with levels.'_ I though dismissively. _'I wonder if mapping all Konoha will get this to max level or I'll need more.'_ After that thought I paused for a few seconds before sighing. _'I wonder if Quests are more difficult to get than that? Or does this Game not have them in the first place. That would suck. What about Dungeons?'_

Being pretty sure that what I had felt while meditating was chakra, I set myself up to try and replicate the original Gamer's Instant Dungeon skill. I got nothing. And yes, I did check to see if I was doing things right and as the Game showed me, I _had_ used chakra while messing around. With a resigned sigh, I accepted that my game didn't have artificial dungeons. Probably wouldn't have natural ones either.

So far, the Game seemed to work with an as-realistic-as-possible-while-still-being-a-Game type of logic. It sucked. With those depressing thoughts I went to bed for the first time after coming to this world.

I drowned myself in the feeling of being alive once again before falling asleep.

**[}-o-{]**

The next week was spent much the same as my first day in the Naruto world. I went to classes using Running, had something for lunch that I usually prepared beforehand, continued classes, used Stealth while going back to the apartment and then used Meditation once I got there. I tried to use Stealth while actually trying to be stealthy, just in case some ninja saw something suspicious if I used just the skill in the middle of the street. I had also started to explore the area around the apartment and the academy. Especially when I had time during the lunch break.

It was a relaxing week, especially considering that the first few days I had been scared of my own shadow, thinking someone would catch something strange about me and find out about everything. Realizing that I wasn't going to be killed in my sleep didn't help me much though. Training at all hours had started to take a toll on me. I was annoyed most of the time and Meditation had started to get difficult. Soon I found myself wanted to annoy Sakura just to get a punch to the face when I noticed that I was stupid. I had decided that my nindo was 'Live life to the fullest' and here I was wasting every minute I had training like a madman. That's when realization hit me, surviving wasn't the same as living.

So, it was with a new mindset that I had gone to the Academy on my second week as Eiji Satou. That made me be quite restless as Iruka explained to us the differences between the Elemental Nations. It seemed that most of those fanfics that seemed to believe that the Academy only focused on history were wrong. It also contradicted canon where the students didn't seem to know shit about the other countries. At least, that's what I remembered, maybe it had been just Naruto that didn't know.

I was practically bouncing on my seat until Sensei finally decided that it was time for our physical training. Grinning from ear to ear I mentally called for my status screen.

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 120/120**

**Chakra Points: 50/50**

**Strength: 6**

**Dexterity: 6**

**Constitution: 6**

**Chakra: 5**

**Chakra control: E]**

It hadn't improved a lot, I'll admit. Physical Conditioning was doing its job, albeit slowly.

Then I did another mental call.

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 4**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 40%.**

**Consumption 9 Energy Points per second.]**

This was the reason for me deciding to have some fun. Running seemed to level up both by use and by me simply running without actually using the skill. That was godsent, really. I was especially glad about the drop on the consumption that it received at level 4. I had hopes that the skill would level all the way up to 40 and it would become free. Not to mention that the 400% to my running speed would be great.

Now, back to my plan to have fun. I was going to use the skill right from the start of the laps. Hopefully it would give me enough advantage over Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba to finish the laps first.

Now, people must be thinking, 'Don't be an idiot, that change will give you away!' and I would say, 'Probably' with a shrug. However, I couldn't care, if I lived with the fear of using any of my skills then what good was having them? I was also counting on everyone seeing it kind of like my little stunt during my first day where I started pretty well.

This had nothing to do with Kiba bothering me the whole week about how I had gone back to being a weakling. No, it wasn't that at all… I swear.

"Start." Iruka said calmly and I mentally activated Running.

Running was my favorite skill. Not even the feeling of chakra flowing through my pathways compared to the rush of blood and the wind against my body that I felt as I forced my legs to do their very best. Kiba's confused 'What?' behind me was just the icing of the cake. Sadly, the rush weakened after 13 seconds and the three speed powerhouses passed by me eventually.

I gave a long string of mental curses as I put my hands on my knees once we had finished the laps while my lungs tried desperately to catch my breath.

"Almost there, Weakling." Said a smirking Kiba much to my annoyance.

"That was so cool though." Added an apparently amazed Naruto. "You were so fast at the start, how did you do it? Was it a Jutsu?" He asked getting right into my personal space. "Can you teach me?"

"It's not a Jutsu." I said simply. It was uncomfortable to have him so close to me. I had been a loner for the last week and it had been who knew how long since I had actually interacted with someone. The disappointed blonde's shoulders slumped as he stepped back. "I'll beat you, just you wait, Dog breath." Naruto snorted at that.

"What?" The annoyed Inuzuka grabbed me by my collar and pulled me towards him.

"Ahem." Iruka-sensei chose that moment to clear his throat looking clearly unamused. "Taijutsu spars don't start until after the first month, boys." He said simply while raising an eyebrow at Kiba who let me go.

"Just a few weeks, Weakling." Said a smirking Inuzuka. I gulped, knowing that he would surely destroy me in a Taijutsu spar. It was one of his strong points after all. I didn't need to check his stats to know. Not that I could as I hadn't been able to get the Observe skill either.

"Let's start with the physical conditioning, shall we?" Announced Iruka while clapping. Sighing at the situation I had gotten myself into just for some fun I dropped to the floor and started with the push-ups. Halfway through the exercises I received a notification.

**[Physical Conditioning has gone up a level.]**

Which resulted in this:

**[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 4**

**Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 20%.]**

**[Constitution has gone up a level.]**

'_Nice.'_ This was especially nice because it confirmed a theory of mine. Constitution seemed to level up by both running and the exercises while Strength only leveled up during the exercises. The extra 20 Energy Points and the extra space in the inventory were nice too. Yeah, the last one had been a relief. I had been worried that they were just five until Constitution leveled up.

Once Sensei announced the lunch break everyone started groaning as they stood up to go eat something and try to recover energies. Everyone except the stamina freak with an oversized rabbit-fox in the gut.

"Great, I can finally go to Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto said extending his arms to the sky. The worst part was that he always said it like it had been a long time since he had last gone, and I _do_ mean always. "Who wants to taste the food of the Gods?" That question popped up sometimes too although, no one ever answered.

"Yeah, why not?" I said tiredly while sitting on the ground and resting my arms on my knees. Suddenly a lot of eyes turned to me making me feel pretty uncomfortable. A lot of them seemed highly confused. But the best reaction was Naruto's own, he was openly gaping at me. I suppressed a chuckle while I stood up and dusted my pants. "Now, where do we find this 'food of the Gods'?" I asked casually and that seemed to snap him out of it.

"Ha! Just follow me, I'll guide you to the heavenly broth and the divine noodles, believe it." He said taking my arm and literally dragging me out of the school. I couldn't help but grin as my legs tried to keep up with the hyperactive blonde. _'Live life to the fullest indeed.'_ I thought amusedly.

Yes, I had decided that to hell with the Hokage, Danzo and Naruto's probable Anbu and Root guards. If befriending Naruto caused any type of backlash that wasn't civilian based towards me then this village was truly messed up. In a way, that was even more reason to do it. Naruto was an idiot, but he didn't deserve to be treated like a monster. Especially considering that half the reason for him to be like that was _because_ he was treated as a demon.

Halfway through our journey towards Ichiraku though, Naruto let go of my arm and reduced his speed considerably. When I turned to look at him, I caught him looking around nervously. Following his gaze, I saw that several people were looking at us with contempt written all over their faces. I tried to suppress my annoyance as I continued walking with him with my head high, especially because he had seeing me looking around too.

"So, should I order something in specific once we get there?" I asked, not knowing how to start a conversation with him. His eyes widened clearly surprised. By what, I didn't know, but I could guess and it didn't make me happy at all.

"That would be miso ramen, it's the best, believe it." He said with his iconic wide grin before frowning in thought. "But they are all amazing. Honestly, how can you try to compare them?" He said as if I had committed heresy.

"Sorry, my mistake." I deadpanned at him and he nodded as if accepting my apology. I shook my head at him. "Oi," I decided to try again with something different. "How can you run like that? Trying to keep up with you, Kiba and Sasuke is a real pain." He just laughed amusedly.

"Don't know. I just don't get tired so easily. I don't get how you can't run like that." I deadpanned again at that answer. Of course, the stamina freak would think like that. Seeing him scratching the back of his head, I sighed. He was as awkward about this as me, it seemed. Fortunately for both of us, we made it to the stand at that moment. "I'm here Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jisan. A bowl of miso ramen and keep them coming." The blonde announced instantly after taking his seat.

"Welcome, Naruto! Coming up!" Shouted Teuchi from the back of the shop.

"How have you been, Naruto-kun?" Asked a curious Ayame before I took my seat next to Naruto. "Welcome, I don't believe we've seen you here." She said with bright smile. That smile alone must negate a lot of the bad reputation Naruto involuntarily gave them. It looked that effective to me.

"Eiji Satou." I introduced myself. "And no, it's my first time coming. I was curious about how good the place Naruto has been singing praises since forever actually was." I said with a smirk. "I'll have a bowl of miso ramen too. Expert's advice." I added signaling to the blonde that was once again scratching the back of his neck with an awkward grin.

"I asked if anyone wanted to come and he decided to take my offer." Naruto said after Ayame gave him a questioning gaze.

"Well, we have to live up to the praise then. You heard that, dad?" She asked the last part a little more loudly.

"A bowl of miso ramen for Naruto's friend coming up." Teuchi said and I saw Naruto freeze next to me.

"You never did answer my question, Naruto-kun." The waitress pointed out quickly, probably trying to keep the blonde from being too nervous. He snapped out of it pretty quickly.

"I've been great." He said beaming at her. That was a lie if I ever saw one. The flash on Ayame's eyes told me she knew as much. "The Academy is as much a pain as ever though."

"What do you mean?" I asked raising an eyebrow making them turn to me. "You sleep during all the theory classes. You ace the physical parts and you aren't too bad with Shurikenjutsu." I said putting up a finger for each point.

"Iruka-sensei doesn't let me sleep that much." He grumbled. I exchanged a look with Ayame at that.

"I still wonder how you passed last year with that work ethic." I said shaking my head while the waitress giggled.

"Did you come just to be mean?!" He all but shouted. I tensed up. It seemed that I had struck a nerve. "I'm going to be Hokage, just you wait! Then everyone will respect me!" This time he did shout. I just looked at him, thinking how much of that was his desire and how much was just him trying to cheer himself up.

"Heeeh~." I continued looking at him. "Is that so?" I simply asked. He seemed kind of taken aback by my reaction. He expected me to laugh, I guessed.

"You can laugh if you want. It'll happen and you'll see, believe it." He said resolutely before turning his attention to the bowls of ramen that Ayame placed in front of us.

"Then I hope you pay your Jonin well, Godaime." I said amusedly as I picked up the chopsticks. Thank Kami that I had practiced at the apartment. Eating with those things had been a true pain at the start. I was slowly getting used to it, fortunately. After tasting it, I turned to Naruto once more. "Wow, you weren't joking. This is amazing."

"Thank you, Eiji-kun." Ayame said beaming at me. But my attention was on the blonde. He was kind of choking on his ramen, thing that I thought was impossible for him. Once he could breathe again, he turned to me.

"You want to be a Jonin?" He asked, his tone and expression were strange though.

"That's the plan." I said grinning at him.

"That is so lame."

"You got a problem with me goal?" I said, my eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"Yes. Your dream is lame. Honestly, there's nothing special about being Jonin." He said moving his arms around as if to make his point. "You have to dream bigger!" He exclaimed spreading his arms wide. "Like Jonin Commander or Anbu Captain, those are some cool dreams, believe it!" He said grinning from ear to ear. "Not Hokage though, I would hate to ruin your dream." He added before laughing.

'_Something bigger, huh?'_ I thought as we both turned back to our meals. From the corner of my eye, I saw Naruto finish his first bowl while I had just started mine. I snorted at that.

'_Are you using the famous Talk Jutsu on me, Naruto?'_ I thought. Because it seemed like it. Just by listening to him, it sparked something in me. That dreamer attitude seemed to urge me to dream too. I idly wondered if this is how everyone in the show felt after Naruto's speeches. But that attitude felt refreshing. _'Live life to the fullest, wasn't it?'_

"Well then." I said as I finished my bowl. Naruto turned his eyes towards me as he swallowed from his fifth bowl. "If you are going to be the next Hokage, then I'm going to be the next Shinobi no Kami." I grinned at him.

"Hahaha, that's more like it." He laughed. "Another one, please, Ayame-neechan!"

"Another one for me. We'll need that energy if we want to make our dreams true."

"Hahaha, believe it!"

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

I want to thank everyone that reviewed the first chapter, you are all awesome. It was really well received, which got me working on this chapter sooner than I planned. I hope you enjoy it.

About pairings, the general opinion seems to be to wait until Shippuden, which honestly, it's perfectly fine for me. I don't like writing romance anyway, it's really difficult and headache inducing for me. So, if I can delay it better for me.

There're a lot of people that seem to be on board with the nerfed Gamer ability. I'm surprised. I thought, as almost all the Gamer fics I've read so far have broken characters, that it was something that people wanted. But I'm glad to not be the only one that likes the idea of a Gamer that actually struggles.

I have a random question for anyone that reads this note (thank you for taking the time to do so, by the way), what weapon do you think would be cool for Eiji to use? I have my own thoughts but I find that usually others ideas help me come up with my own. Extra points if it's Japanese.

**See you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 3**

"Are you sure she-"

"Naruto, for the third time. Yes, I'm sure. She will just continue hitting you. Just… give her some space." I said exasperatedly. I had spent the rest of our time after the meal telling Naruto to let Sakura be. I was sure, or at least hoped, that the pink-haired girl wouldn't be that bad once he stopped pestering her. "Annoying her until she gives you a chance won't work."

"Ok…" He said looking down. I sighed.

"I heard you are good pranking people." I said trying to keep a smirk as he perked up instantly.

"I'm not good." He said in a low voice. "I'm the best, believe it!" He said giving me a big grin and a peace sign. I chuckled.

"So, that should mean you are good sneaking around…" I whispered as if I didn't want others to hear. He nodded quickly with a serious face. "Do you think you can teach me? As shinobi we'll need that particular skill." I had had this idea just now. Would having instruction affect the levels of the skills?

"I can do that, but you have to help me with my pranks." He said grinning at me. I hesitated. I didn't want to become undesirable number two… To hell with it. Stealth training for the win. I just hoped my theory was right.

"Deal." He swung an arm around my shoulders and started shaking me.

"We are going to be great friends, Eiji." He exclaimed and couldn't stop an amused half-smile.

"Of course, Godaime." I said and he chuckled shyly. He obviously wasn't used to people takin him even half-seriously. By that time, we had arrived at the classroom.

"Godaime. What a joke, hahaha." We stopped walking as Kiba's voice reached us. "He is better than you, Weakling, but he is still not good at all." He pointed out with a smirk.

"Careful who you are mocking, Kiba." Naruto said still grinning. "You are talking with the future Shinobi no Kami, believe it." He said pointing at me, I just shook my head at him while Kiba couldn't even retort because of the fit of laughter he was in.

"Ignore him, Naruto. Dogs are attention seekers like that." I smirked at the blonde that let out a laugh at that.

"Yeah, you're right." Naruto said taking his seat.

"I would shut my mouth if I were you, Weakling." Kiba threatened, not pleased at all with my comeback. I just looked for my things and took them to the seat next to Naruto.

"Whatever you say, Dog breath." I waved my hand in the air. I heard a growl but it was interrupted by Iruka-sensei coming in.

"Let's go outside then, shall we?" He said and we did. Meanwhile I looked at the screen I had summoned this time.

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 4**

**Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a shuriken by 40%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 3**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 30%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]**

Yeah, I had been progressing well enough in target practice. I just hoped it was better in this world than it was in canon where you either were a ninjutsu specialist or you were cannon fodder. People like Guy aside, obviously.

I blinked in confusion. Iruka had stopped in the open area where we usually did the physical conditioning.

"Today we'll start with some Taijutsu training to prepare you for the spars that we'll start having in a few weeks." He said. I gulped and decided to turn serious mode on. I wasn't going to get my ass handed to me by Kiba if I could help it. For some reason he had me in his shit list ever since the first day. I wondered if it had something to do with my little running stunt back then. Anyway, I wasn't going to be bullied. I hadn't been reincarnated or whatever just to be the guy everyone picked on, nu huh.

So, as I copied Iruka-sensei's movement as he explained the katas, I also started planning a new training routine. I would use my free time once the academy finished to train more with Physical Conditioning and the Taijutsu skill that I was sure to-

**[New Skill Acquired: Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 1]**

There it was. It was surprising though, that I was just Taijutsu and not the particular style, Basic Konoha Style. Who would have guessed that name, huh? Anyway, I wasn't going to complain. Reading the description though, was a bit disappointing. It didn't give any real buffs or anything. I had hoped to get a little boost even if it needed Energy. But no, there was nothing except the increase in my skill according to level, kind of like the Stealth skill. _'Here's hoping that there's something like that at a higher level.'_

Shaking my head to brush those thoughts aside I concentrated in the class. I would need to know how to practice the katas at home. It would have been better if I could practice with Naruto or something like that but we didn't have the space for that in the building. It was a shame, really. But I would have to make do with classes and training by myself. Maybe I could get a wooden post to practice on? Could I even install that on the apartment? Things to check later.

Unfortunately for me, the classes ended without me being able to gain another level in Taijutsu. But that would change soon. I had three weeks until we started having spars. I had to bring it and my Physical Stats to a good enough level so that Kiba wouldn't beat me. Which sucked, because I was sure he was the best Taijutsu user in the class aside from Sasuke and _maybe_ Chouji… And Hinata if we were having spars between genders. The last two didn't worry me too much though, they were too gentle to truly dominate in a spar. Kiba and Sasuke were my competition. Naruto was a bit of a wildcard. He had strength and stamina, but he didn't have technique at all, or at least he was portrayed like that. I better be on the safe side and put him up there in the list too. Shino too… shit, I was truly a weakling.

"Eiji, do you want to go pranking?" The voice of the wildcard interrupted my thoughts.

"Sorry, Naruto." I said, and I was truly apologetic. I had just made plans with him but I really wanted to beat Kiba. "Kiba has been getting on my nerves lately. I want to beat him when we start having spars." I explained. "So, I'll head home and train some more."

"Oh…" His grin faded a little before he got a hold of himself. I felt terrible. "Then we'll start after you get there." He gave me a peace sign.

"Believe it." I replied to which his grin turned a bit more… genuine. I gave him a half-smile. "See you tomorrow, Naruto. Try to study something." I said waving at him.

"I have better things to do, believe it!" I just shook my head at him before my expression turned serious. Activating Stealth to spend the recovered Energy, I made my way to the apartment. I could almost hear the training montage music in the background.

**[}-o-{]**

So, there I was, three weeks since my friendship with Main Protagonist-kun started. I had indulged him and gone pranking a couple of times during the weekends. It was a good way to distract myself from all the training I was doing. I didn't want to burn myself out after all. As a result of our little escapades and what little I could do in my way back home, Stealth had improved a lot.

**[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 8**

**Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.**

**Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]**

Having someone to teach me definitely made the difference. Even though I was barely able to train it compared with the others, it had progressed nicely. And that it had the same reduction on the Energy cost every 4 levels that Running seemed to have was nice too. Talking about Running.

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 10**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.**

**Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]**

I was so damn proud of that skill. Sensei had been truly pleased with my progress and the speed of my 'initial sprint' as he called it. But the pride came from something completely different. I was slowly catching up to the speed demons as my stats and skill progressed. I was starting to get on Kiba's nerves. He had it coming the mangy mutt. And now that I mentioned my stats.

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 200/200**

**Chakra Points: 70/70**

**Strength: 9**

**Dexterity: 7**

**Constitution: 10**

**Chakra: 7**

**Chakra control: E]**

Yes, Physical Conditioning's effects were starting to show and Strength and Constitution were starting to get ahead of Dexterity. I didn't like it much really. I would have preferred for all my stats to be the same level. But there's nothing I could do. It would only get worse with Physical Conditioning like this:

**[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 10**

**Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 50%.]**

Now, many must be thinking 'wow, how did you get your chakra to level up?' and the truth is… I don't really know. Just a few days ago I was using Meditation to organize my head a bit and go over the theorical classes, or that was the idea. But I had slowly started to get a better feeling of my chakra somehow and I latched onto it. Carefully I tried to draw it towards me, even though it was inside me, and then it felt like a dam breaking. A rush of energy ran through my body and the feeling that usually made me feel warm and my hairs stand intensified. I felt a smile involuntarily take over my face just by how amazing it felt. When I opened my eyes, I received a pleasant surprise.

**[Meditation has gone up a level.]**

**[You have unlocked your Chakra.]**

'_It was locked?!'_ Was my first thought. Blinking rapidly, I summoned my Status screen. Apparently, my Chakra was equivalent to my lowest Physical stat for some reason. I would have to research on that. For the moment I made a mental note to check the library that I was sure was somewhere and see what I could find, not only on chakra but in everything else I could possibly need. Oh, and before I forgot, I decided to check Meditation just in case.

**[Meditation (Active) – Lvl 5**

**Increases the recovery rate of Energy Points and Chakra Points by 25% when active.]**

Now, onto the good stuff. My true shinobi skills aside from Stealth. Shurikenjutsu Skills were starting to be a pain to level. The last level of Shuriken Throwing had taken me the whole last week to get and I was still waiting for the Kunai level that I was sure was around the corner. I had knowing it would happen eventually, but it was still annoying to be so limited.

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 7**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a shuriken by 70%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 6**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 60%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]**

Still, 60-70% was pretty good. Good enough to earn me nice comments from Iruka-sensei. I dreaded how difficult it would get to hit _moving_ targets though… Anyway, onto Taijutsu. I seriously hopped it was good enough because even if I didn't get paired against Kiba in the first Taijutsu spar, it would happen soon enough. And I doubted I would get another level before I got to fight against him.

**[Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 7**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.]**

If that level represented the same skill that Shuriken Throwing gave me on the same level then it wasn't that impressive really. Not when you thought that the mutt would probably have been trained all his life by his clan that was known for their Taijutsu aside from their Ninken. With some luck my stats would be higher than his… Yeah, nah, I was screwed. So, to distract myself, why not look at the rest of my skills?

**[Cooking – Lvl 5**

**Improves the quality of cooked goods by 50%.]**

**[Cartography – Lvl 5**

**Improves the quality of maps drawn by 25%.]**

Yep, they looked nice. The food I prepared was starting to get _good_. I had even gotten Naruto to eat some of my food for lunch instead of going to Ichiraku's. Can you imagine? I was truly moved. That's the power of friendship right there.

Kiba was going to kick my ass though… Oh well, I could only hope I would get stronger than him eventually. I didn't fancy the rest of my Academy life being bullied by the mutt.

**[}-o-{]**

"Now, let's start with the laps!" And with the now extremely familiar call from Sensei I activated Running. By now nobody was surprised by my speed at the starts. Naruto was convinced that it was a 'cool jutsu' even though Iruka had told him that there didn't seem to be any chakra involved after checking with his sensing skills. Honestly, there's no trust here. Although… it was a ninja village so… never mind.

The thing is. I wanted a win today. Even if I got my ass handed to me in the Taijutsu spar, I would get a win today. So, I ran with all I had as soon as I ran out of Energy Points for Running.

"Come back here, Weakling!" I heard behind me.

'_Keep talking, stupid mutt.'_ I thought to myself as I forced my legs to continue running. Just one more lap. I could do it. Even if Kiba got to beat me in Taijutsu, I would still be able to hold this over him. Just a little more…

And then Sasuke passed me. I started cursing in my mind. Then Naruto ran by me. The idiot even turned a little to give me a thumbs up. _'Someday, Naruto, someday I'll be able to kick your ass. Mark my words, you hyperactive knuckle-head!'_

They reached the end of the lap. I was still ahead of Kiba. I could hear the Inuzuka cursing behind me. He was close. He was so close…

I finished before him.

Stopping abruptly and tripping over myself doing so, I fell to the ground. My chest moved up and down trying desperately to give my body the oxygen it craved. My legs trembling and sore, as if admonishing me for my stupidity. With my eyes closed and my mouth forming a wide smile I started laughing.

"Good job, Eiji!" Naruto's voice reached me even though I could barely hear over the pulse of my accelerated heart rate sent to my ears. "You definitely beat him, believe it!" He exclaimed. I chuckled and opened my eyes.

"He can start getting used to eating my dust, Naruto." I said barely able to recover my breath. I was going to continue beating him. I was sure of it. Why? Simple.

**[Quest Complete: Finish the running exercise in third place.**

**Rewards:**

**+1 Running Level]**

'_So, I do have Quests? But I can't see them? That's bullshit.'_ My pride was replaced by annoyance for a second. However, at this point I was already used to the Game stupid system. I was just happy for the free skill level. I pulled myself up tiredly and still panting.

"Good job, Eiji." Iruka-sensei gave me a thumbs up. I looked over the class and everyone seemed pretty surprised. Those faces were worth risking the use of Skills. Specially Kiba's, he looked absolutely livid. And Sasuke looked intrigued. I just hoped this wasn't one of those Sasukes that was so obsessed with power that he would start pestering me for my secrets and all that shit.

I tuned everyone out when Sakura and Ino started shouting about how Sasuke was still the best. Instead I called for the Running skill's description.

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 11**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.**

**Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]**

'_I knew it. I just knew you would find a way to screw with me, Game.'_ I thought bitterly as I looked at the unchanged speed boost. It seemed that it wouldn't go past 100%. But the level up meant something. I guessed I would still get the reduce in costs every 4 levels. Or at least I hoped so. I paled as I realized that I would have to almost kill my legs every day from now on to keep myself in front of Kiba. Until my stats went up a level or Running did. And considering that the latter had just leveled, those stats points better come soon.

"I think that's enough resting, Eiji. Start with the physical conditioning." Iruka said over my thoughts and I groaned before starting with the push-ups. From the corner of my eyes, I saw a fuming Kiba. That got the smile back on my face and helped motivate me. _'That's what you get for trying to use me for your superiority complex, mutt.'_

"Eiji, let's go to Ichiraku's to celebrate!" Naruto called as we finished the exercises. I chuckled tiredly.

"Sorry, Naruto." I apologized from where I was sitting on the ground, already taking out my meal. "I'm beat after that stunt. Maybe for dinner or tomorrow." I said tiredly munching on my sandwich. He looked at me with his grin fading before starting to scratch the back of his neck.

"Then… em…" He hesitated and I raised an eyebrow. "Would you mind if I… you know… took one of those? Your food is not that bad." He said looking away. I gulped and took one snack to offer him.

"Sure, go ahead." I said and the sandwich seemed to vanish from my hand. I blinked. "Geez, you know I won't just take my words back, don't you?" I said shaking my head at him. He chuckled awkwardly.

"I know. It's just really good." He said grinning at me.

"Ichiraku level of good?" I asked jokingly.

"Never!" He denied immediately crossing his arms for emphasis. "That's the food of the Gods you are talking about, believe it! Sorry, but yours can't compare."

"Well, it got you to stay instead of going, so that has to count for something." I said smirking.

"I also wanted to be with you." He blurted out. "I mean…" He continued quickly seemingly getting nervous. "I mean, to celebrate your third place and all." I blinked before a smile appeared in my face.

"Thanks, Naruto. I appreciate it." I told him honestly. He was an idiot for sure, but you just couldn't hate him.

"That's what friends are for, believe it!" He said as if _I_ was the idiot.

"Right. Thanks anyway, Godaime."

"No problem, Shinobi no Kami." He gave me a peace sign and then we focused on the food again.

"Naruto," I started cautiously. He looked at me. "Why do you like Ichiraku so much?" I asked. He looked at me as if he didn't understand the question.

"Because it's the best." He said simply.

"No other reason?" I pressed on. He frowned before looking at the floor.

"You know people don't like me much. I know you saw them." He said. I sat up with my back straight. I knew what was coming. We had never talked about how people hated him but I didn't need to, after all. "Everywhere else is really expensive… or they won't sell me at all." His voice getting lower and lower until it was just a whisper.

"Naruto." I said firmly and he looked up at me. "If you give me some of your money, I'll buy food for you. I'll even bring you something of your own for lunch." I said with a half-smile. He didn't return it though.

"You… You won't get into trouble because of that?" He asked unsure.

"Maybe." I said shrugging. "But if they don't see me pranking with you, they shouldn't have a reason to give me trouble. I'll have to stop doing that though." I explained. Maybe one of the kids from our class would start telling, but I wanted to believe it wouldn't be enough to ruin the both of us. And if that happened… I would have a talk with the Hokage. As much as I dreaded that option, it was the best.

I wouldn't let Naruto starve himself and as good as Ichiraku's Ramen was, it wouldn't do the blonde well to eat just that. No, he was too good a guy to be left alone like that. I could risk it for a friend. I had noticed that life since I had been reincarnated was pretty dull without anyone in it. I needed friends. And as far as friends went, it was difficult to do better than Naruto Uzumaki. Even with all the drawbacks, he more than made up for them.

"Thanks." He said softly looking at the sandwich in his hand. "But I still think Ichiraku's the best, believe it!" He exclaimed and I chuckled.

"Obviously, Naruto." I said with a smirk.

**[}-o-{]**

"Eiji Satou vs Shikamaru Nara." I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry as Iruka called our names. If Shikamaru did what I thought he was going to do. It would suck. At least I wanted to get some experience for Basic Taijutsu, damnit. "Do the Seal of Confrontation." Suppressing a sigh, I did so.

"I give up." The sigh escaped my lips instantly. It was soon followed by a groan.

"Come on." I all but shouted. "Would it kill you to at least have a light spar?" I complained.

"It's too troublesome." He said indifferently before shrugging. I facepalmed. I just knew it…

"Do the Seal of Reconciliation." Said Iruka-sensei while sweat dropping. I did so together with the Nara and we went to the side so that the others could have their turn.

**[Quest Complete: Win your first spar.**

**Reward:**

**+1 Basic Taijutsu Level]**

'_I take that back. Thanks, Shikamaru.'_ I thought to myself trying to suppress a grin.

"Is there anything you enjoy doing?" I asked Shikamaru trying to sound annoyed.

"Cloud watching." He said with his usual bored tone and I resisted the need to facepalm.

"Anything else?" I asked. I was truly curious though. Did he have any different hobbies from canon or fanfics? That question came up sometimes when thinking about some things. After all, there were several times that made this look like an AU of sorts. Anything could be different.

"Shogi." He answered. Same Shikamaru, it seemed.

"You don't have a board here, do you? I'll be bored out of my mind waiting for them all to finish their fights." I said. There were far too many civilians for me to care and watch all their fights. There were some clan members too but no one really close to the canon groups. I would still watch their fights though, maybe pick up on clan styles' weaknesses or maybe even stances and katas. If the Uchihas could go around stealing techniques I could try too.

"I have one." Shikamaru said sitting up from where he had laid down to watch the clouds. "Interested?"

"Yeah, why not?" I shrugged and he stood up and walked inside. I followed him with my eyes. Maybe he wasn't so lazy. Or maybe my group of friends would grow from now on. I smiled.

Yes, being friends with a Nara may not be the smartest decision. But I would have to live here. Shikamaru was a pretty important character too. I would have to deal with him eventually. Avoiding him would only end up looking more suspicious than anything else I could do.

I looked as he set up the board.

"Do you know how to play?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head.

"I know nothing." I smirked and he groaned.

"Ok… this is the King…" He started explaining. Five minutes and two very lame civilian spars later I had a screen in front of me.

**[Shogi – Lvl 1**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

I grinned. I was sure the game wouldn't give me a combat equivalent for that. But it was ok. The possibility of beating a Nara in Shogi sounded pretty awesome by itself.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

I want to address two people's reviews in this note because other people may be wondering the same thing.

First, Kiba's attitude towards Eiji. He has a superiority complex, and then this random guy comes out of nowhere and makes him look 'bad' in the first day during the laps, even if just for a bit. So, that got his attention focused on the protagonist and he started putting him down. I won't have him always be an asshole though, it's just a temporary thing so, don't worry.

Second, someone said that the MC changed the way he acts abruptly regarding his plans during the first chapter. The first chapter's plans were something that someone with Gamer's Mind would follow to the end. But the MC doesn't have that skill, he can't spend all his time grinding without it taking a toll on him. I'm also trying to make him have emotions, not be a robot that has emotions only when it's cool.

I hope those explanations are good enough for you all.

I want to give a special thanks to **Kuman**. He is amazing. He has been sending me ideas and theories regarding canon that are just awesome. Some of them I'm sure I'll be able to use in this story. He is also the one that pointed out to me that the MC's chakra should be higher due to his Spiritual energy being higher as a reincarnated person.

Also, to everyone that answered my question regarding weapons with **Kusarigama**, you are this close to convincing me to have Eiji use it. Even though I didn't quite see it at the start, pieces are falling into place without me even trying.

I'll leave another **Random Question**: I'm planning to have everyone in the main cast be important, or at least not be irrelevant. So, is there something you would like to see? Like someone using this or that weapon, or this or that type of jutsu. Maybe you'll pull a Kusarigama on me and convince me of something else. Who knows?

**See you.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 4**

"I actually feel bad for watching this… fight." I commented cringing at the sight.

"I want to cheer for her but…" Naruto tried to explain ending with just flinging his arms around.

"I get what you mean, Naruto." Chouji said nodding sagely.

"Then focus on our game." Shikamaru said with a bored tone.

"This is almost as sad. I feel like that civilian that sparred against Sasuke."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"Why am I playing against you?"

"To escape boredom."

"Right." I sighed.

The situation was quite simple. Shikamaru was beating me in a Shogi match for the… tenth? I stopped paying attention after the sixth to be honest. Chouji and Naruto had joined soon afterwards and we were watching the spars unfold. The current one though, was embarrassing to look at. It was Sakura vs Ino and… it was a catfight. There was no other word that would do the… spar… justice. I was afraid they would start ripping their clothes off, honestly.

With that disturbing thought in mind, I turned my attention to the board. I had started to understand why the Nara's strategic thinking was often described as difficult to describe. There was no way a mediocre writer would find the words to do their brains justice, so it was better left as beyond their comprehension. And that was the case right now. He was beyond my comprehension.

**[Shogi – Lvl 5**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

The skill had leveled faster than any other that I had. My best guess would be because I had played some chess in my past life and Shogi was like a Japanese version of it. It didn't mean much though. I had never been good and I was sure Shikamaru couldn't tell the difference between a complete amateur and me. There wasn't much of a difference when you played against someone like him.

"Do you have plans for after classes?" Shikamaru asked. I wasn't sure if he was asking me alone or both me and Naruto. He had been making a move so it was difficult to tell. I decided to include Naruto just in case.

"I was planning to go in some Stealth training with Naruto. I've been kind of ignoring him as I focused on the Taijutsu training." I explained and he nodded.

"Wanted to beat Kiba, huh?" He asked indifferently. Of course, he knew.

"More like, didn't want Kiba to beat me." I said lamely and he snorted.

"Stealth training?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Pranking." Naruto whispered loudly.

"I just told you, Naruto. I won't be pranking anymore." I narrowed my eyes at him and he frowned before his eyes widened and started scratching the back of his head.

"Right, I forgot." He replied looking away. I just sighed and made my move. Shikamaru moved instantly and a groan escaped from my throat as I saw I was screwed again. The Nara just smirked my way as I glared.

"I'm gonna beat you. Eventually, it'll happen." He just shrugged as if he could care less. I just hoped my skills didn't come with a level cap or that the cap was enough to allow me to beat Naras. Otherwise I would have to rely on my own brain and I just knew I would never beat him with just that. "Thank Kami, it ended." I exclaimed as the cringeworthy match ended. And I am not talking about my game with Shikamaru.

"Anyway," Shikamaru said as he set the pieces back into place for another game. "Do you want to come to my house? We can continue there if you are up for more games." I resisted the need to growl at that. At least he didn't say 'up for more defeats'.

"What do you say, Naruto?" I asked as I made the first move. I couldn't just leave the blonde out. I just wouldn't feel right. If Shikamaru's parents had a problem with that then we would just get out. I was sure Shikaku Nara was smart enough to know that Naruto wasn't a demon or a ticking bomb. Or wouldn't be if he had enough support in the latter case.

"Erm… Sure…" Naruto answered scratching the back of his head nervously and I saw Shikamaru narrow his eyes. I shook my head at him and his suspicious gaze turned to me. I continued playing with a neutral face and the Nara seemed to follow my example with a bored one himself.

"Eiji Satou vs Hibachi Mizuno." Iruka Sensei called for me again. It seemed it was time for everyone to have second spars. I wondered if the class would have enough time to get thirds.

I stood in the circle in front of my opponent. He had short brown hair, almost hidden under a grey bandana and stone colored eyes. He was wearing a beige t-shirt and grey pants with black 'ninja sandals'. The lasts still seemed silly to me but everyone used them, so I just went with it. After doing the Seal of Confrontation he took his stance and I took mine with a smirk. I had trained my ass off for these spars, there was no way this kid would beat me.

I had decided to wait and see as my strategy. There was no need to rush into things when I could let the opponent make the first move and possibly the first mistake. That is, unless I knew they were someone like Hinata and Chouji where they would probably be taken aback if I rushed right from the beginning.

The kid, I had already forgotten his name, seemed a bit nervous as he shifted in his feet while I just stared at him without moving. Finally, he seemed to have enough as he rushed at me to throw a fist to my face.

With the smirk still on my face I shifted my stance leaving my left leg in front of me and my left arm extended as much as I could towards the boy. My right arm stayed firmly close to my torso. As he ran at me, I positioned my left fist so that it would point right at his face as he shortened the distance between us. My smirk widened as that little movement got the desired results. He broke his stance to avoid my fist to my left side.

I shifted my left feet back so that I faced him and pulled my left arm back. After the length of my arm and my step back, it looked to the kid like a long distance had formed between us, prompting him to take another step to reach me. As he did that though, I took advantage of the motion of pulling my left arm back and send my right arm forward as a hook to his jaw.

I took no little amount of pride as my fist connected and sent his head back and his body to the ground. During the whole thing my smirk had only grown as I watched while taking my stance once again. After a moment he shakily stood up and I waited for him. If he was a little out of it then it was even better to wait, he would surely have a ton of openings when he tried to attack.

"I give up." The kid said as he walked towards me with legs that seemed to be made of jelly. _'What?'_ I did a double take at that. Granted, he looked like a strong wind would down him but still.

"Winner, Eiji Satou." Sensei said as he took notes on the spar. I blinked. That was all?

Don't get me wrong, it was kind of nice. Scratch that, it was definitely nice after all that work put on Taijutsu. But at the same time, it was kind of underwhelming. I scratched my chin uncomfortably as I made my way back to the others. It was also a little disappointing that I didn't get another Quest reward but I guessed it was only for the first and maybe after I defeated someone in specific if the Game was feeling generous.

"That was fast." Shikamaru said with a raised eyebrow.

"That was so cool!" Naruto said as he stared at me with almost literal stars in his eyes. "You definitely got to teach me that!" He demanded signaling at the circle where the spars took place. I just chuckled as Shikamaru grumbled something about 'loud blondes'.

"What? I told you that I had trained for this." I said with the smirk back in my face.

"You are so going to teach me." A grinning Naruto told me. "Then I'll kick everyone's ass. Especially Sasuke-teme's, believe it." I just shook my head at him.

"I just trained what Iruka sensei taught us and did the physical conditioning by myself at home." I explained.

"But that's so boring." Whined the blonde and I rolled my eyes before turning to the Nara.

"I also eat a lot of different things besides ramen, you know?" I said, which seemed to get Chouji's attention.

"Did you start a special menu for training?" He asked interestedly and I leaned back.

"Hm, no. I don't know that much about food." I said embarrassed and he nodded.

"Because the other day my mother was telling me about…" And that seemed to spark a conversation on what were the best things you could eat when you were training. I gave the Akimichi as much attention as I could while still playing with Shikamaru. Something told me I would have to work on my multi-tasking when dealing with all this people.

**[}-o-{]**

"Ok, now, tell me why is Naruto so nervous about going to my house?" Shikamaru all but demanded as we made our way to the Nara compound. Meanwhile, Naruto and Chouji seemed to be having a rather heated argument about what was better barbecue or ramen. It looked like they were going to take a while too.

"Look around." I said cryptically and the Nara's eyes narrowed before doing so. A minute later he turned to me.

"Why does everyone look at him like that?" He asked this time.

"I don't know." I lied while shrugging. "But I doubt it's just because of his pranks. I also heard some people call him a demon here and there." That had actually happened, much to my displeasure, so I was safe to say it. I considered telling him that people wouldn't sell food to the blonde but I would have to wait until I knew what his parents thought about the matter at least. Shikaku was generally cool about Naruto's condition but I couldn't know for certain.

"I see." Shikamaru said while biting his thumb. "So, he is nervous because he thinks my parents will be like that?" He continued his interrogation. At least he didn't seem offended by that.

"I think so. I wouldn't take it personal. I'm sure it would happen with anyone else too." I said shrugging and giving him an apologetic smile.

"Troublesome."

"Yeah, he tends to be." I smirked at the lazy genius. "You couldn't ask for a better friend though." I said with a smile looking at Naruto. Shikamaru just hummed next to me.

"If you say so." He said looking over to the other pair with his bored look. I couldn't help but think about how much more difficult it was to get a read out of him than others. "We are here." He said pointing to a gate with a pair of almost identical bored-looking guards. I would have wondered if they were even doing their job but the way they twitched when Naruto came into view told me that yes, they were very much aware of their surroundings. "The three of them are with me." Shikamaru said waving at the guards and they just hummed distractedly.

"Well, that's effective security right there." I said smirking.

"Lazy asses, the both of them." He commented with a shrug.

"If you say so." I said still smirking and he narrowed his eyes at me before giving me a smirk.

"Welcome home, Shika! If you go to sleep right now you know what'll happen~!" That was how Shikamaru's mother always received him apparently. It was said that way at least. I just turned to him with a raised eyebrow. He groaned.

"Do you have to be so troublesome, woman?" He grumbled. "I'm not even going to sleep anyway."

"Like I would- Oh, welcome everyone." The Nara matriarch said as she peeked over the corner and saw all of us. "You didn't tell me you would bring friends, Shika." She chided.

"It was a spur of the moment thing." He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, we are going to the backyard." He said and started walking.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Nara-san." I said politely bowing to her. "I'm Eiji Satou."

"N-Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said while bowing awkwardly next to me. Obviously not used to this kind of thing.

"Hello again, Yoshino-san." Chouji just waved.

"My my, aren't you a polite pair. I'm Yoshino Nara, a pleasure to meet you too." She said sweetly and a part of me relaxed at the fact that she didn't say anything about Naruto. "Anyone that keeps Shika from taking a nap is welcome here." I sweat dropped at that and heard the younger Nara groan and mutter 'troublesome woman'. "And just call me Yoshino." She smiled at us.

"Of course, thank you, Yoshino-san." She just waved her hand at me and went back to what she was doing.

"Let's go." Shikamaru said guiding us through the halls.

"There's no hurry, Shika." I teased and he groaned.

"You have been distinctly not troublesome, Eiji. Don't ruin it." He almost sounded serious. I just snorted and shook my head.

"Whoa, you have so much space." Naruto exclaimed as he spread his arms as if to signal the size of the backyard. It was pretty big, at least if you were used to our shitty apartments of the orphan building. "It would be awesome to have this much space, wouldn't it Eiji?" He asked turning to me. "We could have practiced Taijutsu together." There was something in his voice as he said the word 'together' that made me take a mental note to search for a place to train with him in other things besides Stealth.

"You can train here." Shikamaru said shrugging as we both turned to him. "Just keep me out of-."

"I'll be eternally grateful if you get Shika to train!" Yoshino's voice interrupted her son. He just sighed as if resigning himself to his fate and I chuckled.

"Count on us, Yoshino-san!" I answered to with she shouted a 'thank you'.

"Traitor." The Nara heir grumbled.

"We'll play Shogi and I'll spar with Chouji or Naruto from time to time. We can tell your mother that you participated too and were resting if she comes." I muttered to him and he gave me a smirk.

"I like how your think."

"What do you say, Chouji? How about a spar?" Naruto asked excitedly. Poor little guy probably was ecstatic that he would be able to do… something with someone else.

"Do I have to?" The Akimichi whined.

"Eiji will bring food for you to the Academy tomorrow!" Offered the blonde.

"Oy, leave me out of this." I said nervously. I wasn't quite sure if my Lvl 5 Cooking was good enough for an Akimichi after all. They were kind of like the Food Kings of Konoha, weren't they?

"Deal!" Chouji accepted instantly and I blanched.

"Don't worry. It doesn't have to be really good, just good enough and have lots of it." Shikamaru adviced and I nodded weakly.

"Naruto gets me into a deal to have me cook more and now I'm about to have my ass handed to me in Shogi. Why did I accept your invitation?" I asked defeatedly.

"Beats me." He said smirking as he started playing. I sighed.

It was sometime later that I found myself looking at a pair of screens while walking on the street.

**[Shogi – Lvl 7**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

**[Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 9**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.]**

And that's how I learned that actual spars were ten times better than just practicing the katas for Taijutsu. Not that I ever doubted it but I was surprised to have received a level on the skill even though I had just had a couple of spars with Naruto and one with Chouji. The latter really needed a boost of confidence though. I hoped we could give it to him if we continued sparing him without mocking him or anything. We had tried to get Shikamaru to spar at least once but it was a lost cause.

I noticed that the Nara seemed to enjoy having someone to play Shogi against a little too much. I mean, one would think that after beating me so many times he would get bored but it seemed to do the opposite really. I wondered how many times he had crushed people only for them to give up and stop playing with him. I wouldn't though. My Shogi level would get high enough eventually. Or at least, I wished so.

"Ne, Eiji, it's too late to go to Ichiraku's so…" Naruto started nervously while we walked back to our building. I sighed.

"If you want me to cook just ask, Naruto." I said exasperatedly before he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a one-armed hug giving his signature smirk.

"You are the best, Eiji!" He said. "I'll pay you really well when I become Hokage, believe it!" I chuckled.

"You better." I shook my head.

Overall, it was a nice day. I ended the laps before Kiba, I didn't get my ass handed to me in the spars and I made a couple of new friends.

It was a good day.

**[}-o-{]**

**Naruto POV**

Today was awesome!

I mean, just thinking about it brought a grin to my face. Eiji got to beat Kiba's ass on the running laps which was pretty nice. Then we celebrated together and after that we hung out with Shikamaru and Chouji. We even went to Shikamaru's house and his mother didn't kick me out! And Eiji… Eiji also offered to make me food after I told him about the shops. My grin turned into a soft smile at that thought. He really was a great friend. It only added to my love for Ichiraku's really. After all, if I hadn't asked if anyone wanted to come with me…

"_Yeah, why not? Now, where do we find this 'food of the Gods'?"_

I think I disguised my surprise pretty well back then… Who am I kidding? Eiji seemed to be able to read me like an open book. It was a bit scary, how he could see right through my usual grin. Like how he always accepted to go pranking with me when I was lonely even though I tried not to show it. It was sad that we wouldn't be able to do that anymore.

'_But I get to eat Eiji's food, so that is great'_, I thought as I continued eating what my red-eyed friend had prepared. He had made a lot of food and had left saying that he would sit in the balcony while I finished. He liked his peace and quiet sometimes.

I shook my head focusing on the food. He wasn't Ichiraku level of good, but honestly, who was? But he was pretty good, and seemed to be improving. And also… how could I tell him no? He was my first friend after all. Well, not really. He wasn't my first friend per se. But he was the first one that hadn't left me. I frowned as I remembered all the times a friend had left me after their parents or the matron at the orphanage had told them to stay away from me.

But Eiji stayed. And that was the second-best thing about him. He shrugged off all the glares we got as we walked the streets. Even back then, the first day we talked, he had tried his best as we both awkwardly chatted with one another.

However, the very best thing about him was that he didn't mock my dream.

"_Heeeh~. Is that so?"_

There was no mockery in his voice. It wasn't the fake praise that Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jisan or Jiji used either. No, he just accepted that it was my dream and that was it.

"_If you are going to be the next Hokage, then I'm going to be the next Shinobi no Kami."_

Yeah, Eiji was the best. Putting aside the dishes, I made my way to the balcony to see what he was doing. Funnily enough, I found him sleeping on the floor. Suddenly a mischievous grin grew in my face as the thought of using a marker all over his face crossed my mind. Yeah, that was a good idea.

"No…" I froze and slowly turned to look at him. I almost let out a sigh in relief as I saw that he hadn't woken up and caught me. "No…" I froze again but this time for a completely different reason. He sounded so… weak. It clashed a lot with the Eiji I knew. He always sounded sure of himself, even when he was sure that Kiba would beat him in the Taijutsu spars he had this air of confidence. As if he knew he would beat him eventually, which by the amount of training he did, I believed him.

"No…" He moved in his sleep and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Eiji, wake up." I shook him awake. I knew how scary nightmares were. He sat up straight instantly before looking around. Finally, his eyes settled on me. He blinked. I noticed that his red eyes were pretty scary in the night.

"Sorry, it seems I fell asleep." He apologized, if I hadn't heard him, I wouldn't have believed that this was the same voice that had sounded so scared and weak before.

"Don't worry." I grinned at him like usual and he smiled at me. "That seemed like a scary nightmare though." I pointed out and his smile vanished. Internally, I cursed myself. Having friends was difficult sometimes.

"Yeah…" He nodded tiredly. "Yeah, it was." He looked away towards the view that we got from the balcony. "It's scary, isn't it?" He asked and I wasn't sure he was talking to me anymore. I looked at him in confusion before he finished the statement. "Not existing is scary."

That day I found something else that made Eiji awesome.

He _understood_.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

I don't feel like this chapter is good at all. I'm not satisfied with the way it turned out. From the interactions with Shika and Chouji, to the Naruto POV and don't even get me started with the spar.

I absolutely SUCK at writing fights.

Anyway, I can't quite think of a way to improve it. Which only adds to my frustration.

Leave a review. Here's hoping there won't be too much flame coming my way with this shitty chapter.

**See you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 5**

Chouji's fist impacted against my forearms as I covered my chest. The Akimichi's renowned strength send me skidding backwards while I felt my arms go numb. Once I regained a firm enough stance, I kept my eyes on my friend. Chouji was panting heavily as sweat covered his brows.

**[Physical Resistance has gone up a level.]**

Dismissing the screen, I thought about how much it had taken Naruto and me to curb Chouji's extremely gentle nature so that he could actually spar with us. Between him pulling his punches and Naruto's messy fighting style that I was still trying to improve, it had taken entirely too long for me to get the Resistance skill tree. So far, I only had the Physical branch but it was sure to have some to resist the jutsu elements at the very least. I hoped so at least.

After getting the skill, I had spent the better part of a day wondering if I should find a way to grind it. I decided against that for several reasons. First of all, I wasn't masochistic enough to beat myself up just to grind the skill. I didn't even have Gamer's Body and Mind to help keep me undamaged and sane. I liked having a modicum of sanity, thank you very much.

Secondly, it only seemed to give one percent per level, so at the rate my skills leveled I would have to received too much damage for it to be worthwhile. Something that I wasn't about to do to myself. And lastly, I doubted the shitty Game would allow me to get it high enough to make myself invulnerable. It was sure to have a cap of some sort and I would be happy if I never had to find that out.

Back to my spar with Chouji though, he was completely exhausted and my arms were covered in bruises after so much blocking. But I was ready to take him down. Both of us had put extra effort in this spar as it was the first time, we had to spar in an actual class instead of our get togethers at the Nara or Akimichi compound. It somehow made it even more important than those.

I smirked at him and he groaned.

"Shit." He said simply before I started running at him. With a last-ditch effort, he tried to attack again but I had dragged the spar on for a reason. I had more stamina than him. All my training had made sure of that. I was also sure that if I could check his stats his Dexterity would be lower than mine.

The match had been long. I had spent the entirety of it dodging to the best of my capabilities and blocking when I was unable to. I was confident in my Taijutsu prowess after weeks of defeating the civilian students and the weaker clan members. But I wasn't crazy enough to get up close with Chouji from the very beginning. I had made that mistake on our friendly spars and after his change of attitude towards training he was a beast.

Now, a tired Akimichi heir wouldn't be able to touch me and that was proved when I dodged the incoming fist before punching his side and positioning myself behind him. With a kick behind the knee he went down and then I punched him in the jaw as he tried to turn to me. After that I put some distance between us. While fast, my punches didn't do much damage, not against an Akimichi's physiology at least.

I went back in when it was evident that he wouldn't stand back up fast enough to be a danger and kicked him in the back sending him to the ground. After that I threw myself on top of him at put his arm behind his back. I had him.

"I yield." He groaned before Iruka called the match. With a relieved sigh I stood up and offered Chouji my hand to help him. We both did the Seal of Reconciliation and went back to our group. "You are so annoying to fight, Eiji." He grumbled and I chuckled tiredly.

"Tell that to my arms, I won't be able to train shit with them like this." I looked at said limbs and they looked as bad as they felt. I grimaced as I thought about how painful cooking would be with them like that. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have blocked with both arms and so much. I forgot about that as I looked at a new screen that had popped up.

**[Quest Complete: Win your first spar against a Clan heir****.**

**Reward:**

**+3 Basic Taijutsu Level**

**+1 to all Physical Stats]**

**[Chakra has gone up a level.]**

'_Well, isn't that a nice surprise?'_ I thought to myself as I grinned. It had been a month since the last time I had received a Quest Reward after all and two months since I had arrived to the ninja world. It was nice to get something for free after all this time. With a simple thought I dismissed the screen while calling for the updated ones.

**[Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 15**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.]**

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 280/280**

**Chakra Points: 100/100**

**Strength: 13**

**Dexterity: 10**

**Constitution: 14**

**Chakra: 10**

**Chakra control: E]**

Overall, it felt pretty badass. Yeah, the stats didn't look all _that_ impressive but I had it in good authority that they were. After all, I had just defeated Chouji and he was top 3 of the class as far as I was aware, right behind Sasuke and Kiba. Those three together with Naruto, Shino and I made the top 6 of the male side. Ino, Sakura and Hinata made the top 3 of the female side, unsurprisingly. The Hyuuga heiress was supposedly behind the other two but I was sure it was just her shyness. Although, I guessed the male top had changed now. Now the other was probably Sasuke, Kiba, me, Chouji, Shino and Naruto.

How had the top formed when we hadn't battled one another yet? Sensei had written the list, probably so that our competitiveness would motivate us. Didn't work out with Shikamaru though. Anyway, the thing is, he had made the list based on the prowess shown after a week of spars. From then on, the places would switch only if we defeated the higher spots.

With that and everything else I knew, I had tried to calculate where Sasuke and Kiba stood in the stat department. I was pretty sure neither was above the twenties in anything. Sasuke was probably an overall 17 while the Inuzuka would be a 15. I was _so_ close to beating the dog that I could almost feel it. If the teachers decided to pit us against each other right before I reached his level after this long, I would be pissed. Not to mention that he would never let me live it down.

After a week, I noticed that the teacher seemed to purposely avoid pitting the Clan heirs with anyone else. They probably thought that it would be a waste to have a Clan heir battle against a mere orphan or civilian. Soon, Naruto was added to the least based on mere stamina and strength even if his technique sucked. Being the Jinchuriki probably helped. And just last week they had deemed me worthy, apparently.

"Nice spar." Shikamaru commented, not even bothering to fake enthusiasm. I just rolled my eyes at him and sat down at the other side of the Shogi board.

"It was a cool spar." Naruto explained with true enthusiasm. "You were so close, Chouji. A couple more punches and he would have gone down."

"Thanks, Naruto. You are a real friend." I deadpanned at him and he kept his gaze on the grateful Akimichi while ignoring me. I internally smirked. Some time ago he would have been sputtering about not meaning it like that. He had come a long way from the awkward friendless boy I had eaten ramen with.

"Regretting your creation?" Shikamaru asked as we started playing against each other.

"Never."

"I still don't know if he is more troublesome like this or not."

"I would say not." I said, not entirely convinced. While not having him constantly nervous about if we would leave him was nice, Naruto's new confidence _had_ proved to be, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome. He wasn't outright pranking us, but he did enjoy messing with us a little. I would take that over how he was every day of the week though.

While we both continued our game, I was distractedly paying attention to Naruto and Chouji's conversation that seemed to jump between commenting the spars and discussing food weirdly often. I also kept an eye on the battles. While I had never actually tried to copy a style or something, I _did_ take note of certain moves to try out later.

Lately though, I had started to pay more attention to playing against Shikamaru. Both because I didn't want him to think I didn't care and because I really wanted to beat him. One can only take so many beatings before starting to take it seriously. I had even asked him to lend me some books about the game. He had happily done so with an actual smile instead of his lazy smirk.

The result of all that was this:

**[Shogi – Lvl 10**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

If you were wondering, no, it wasn't nearly enough to beat Shikamaru. It had made the matches longer, but it he was still stomping me without problems. I was sure his skill level would have been around the thirties or forties. I had a long way to go…

On a more cheerful note though, I had managed to continue beating Kiba in the lap runs. It had been almost painful to keep up the spree but I managed to do so long enough to get a Constitution stat and from there it had only snowballed. Now instead of not letting Kiba beat me I was focusing on beating Naruto and taking second place.

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 13**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.**

**Consumption 7 Energy Points per second.]**

Sniff. Beautiful isn't it? Running was still my favorite skill and the one that I was most proud of. It probably had something to do with it being the most noticeably useful. Because yeah, Taijutsu was also pretty dope but without it having an Active effect or a percentage, it was difficult to see something about it besides the level. And while these two were great:

**[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 12**

**Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 60%.]**

**[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 12**

**Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.**

**Consumption 7 Energy Points per second.]**

They just weren't as impressive, not really. Stealth was cool though. It just didn't bring the bragging rights that Running did. However, the skill that _was_ contending with Running for best skill so far was Shurikenjutsu, or its branches I should say. Just look at these babies:

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 9**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a shuriken by 90%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 8**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 80%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]**

Almost perfect accuracy. If that wasn't cool, then I didn't know what was. I wanted to see everyone's faces when I started getting perfect shots left and right. So far, the only ones competing with my scores were Sasuke, Sakura, Ino and, surprisingly, Shikamaru. The first was practically a given. The second two had been a surprise before I reasoned that Sakura was Kunoichi of the Year for a reason even if she was next to useless in the series and she was pretty even with Ino. Shikamaru had been a real shock though. He had only said that throwing wasn't troublesome enough to deal with Iruka and his mother yelling at him. I took his word for it.

As for my other skills:

**[Cartography – Lvl 7**

**Improves the quality of maps drawn by 35%.]**

**[Meditation (Active) – Lvl 10**

**Increases the recovery rate of Energy Points and Chakra Points by 50% when active.]**

**[Cooking – Lvl 9**

**Improves the quality of cooked goods by 90%.]**

Cartography had kind of lagged behind as I started to hang out with Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji more and more. I simply didn't have the time to level up so many skills. At this point, I only drew maps when I didn't feel like grinding my other skills. It was distracting and I didn't have to put as much effort as it wasn't that much of a necessity, at least for now.

This only cemented my decision to wait for my chakra training though. Better to focus on the skills that I was currently using and needed. No need to take unnecessary risks. I would have a full year to train those skills, not to mention the time spend doing D-rank missions after graduation.

On a side note, I was kind of disappointed that Meditation's tenth level hadn't given me anything. I had thought that as it had unlocked my chakra at level five it would do something at level ten. Maybe it would at a latter level, I hoped so at least.

As for Cooking, I had to make food for three people, or seven if you considered Naruto's and Chouji's appetites. That meant that I cooked a _lot_ and that meant more levels. It got to the point that Chouji's mother had started wanting my help when we stayed in their house until too late and had dinner there. Granted, even with the 90% improvement I wasn't anywhere near the level of the Akimichi cooks but I was good enough to compete with lesser restaurants. Their words, not mine. I could only assume it had something to do with me not knowing as much about cooking and just following recipes as best I could.

"You should focus on the game." Shikamaru's voice broke me from my musings as I noticed that I had lost another game.

"Sorry, sorry. Just thinking about what to do once we are out." I said as we set the board again.

"Watch clouds?"

"Stealth training?"

"We could go to my house and have something to eat."

You have three guesses who said what and the first two don't count. I sighed.

"Naruto, we do Stealth training anyway." I raised an eyebrow at the blond-haired boy.

"Well, but we could do so for longer." He said rubbing the back of his head. After I had to stop our pranking, he had pretty much stopped his too. He preferred to hang out with one of us, it seemed. All the theories of his pranking being to draw attention were pretty much confirmed at that point. Don't get me wrong, he still did prank sometimes, especially if someone annoyed him, but not nearly as much anymore.

Once he stopped his pranking, Naruto had come up with an idea for our Stealth training sessions. It took him a week to get Chouji and Shikamaru to come too. I had had to help him get Shikamaru to agree and his mother had been thanking us ever since.

What kind of training was it? Simple. We would choose one of the Chuunin that worked in the Academy and try to follow them without them noticing. Obviously, they did, they were Chuunin after all, but we were getting better.

How did we know that last part? Also, simple. Just last week we had started getting feedback. As teachers, they seemed to support our little extra training and had started leaving notes for us on our desks at the Academy. They told us everything from when they noticed us to how to avoid such development.

I had been pleasantly surprised that none of them seemed to have something against Naruto. I guessed that the Hokage had made sure that everyone was on the Jinchuriki's side in the education department. I wondered if Mizuki was a thing in this universe. I hadn't seen anyone been publicly against Naruto while inside the Academy so far.

"It has been a while since we went to Chouji's house." Shikamaru commented and I nodded.

"Let's go there." Then I turned to a disappointed Naruto. "And we'll do extra Stealth training tomorrow, how about that?" He instantly perked up and nodded. I smiled.

**[}-o-{]**

"What's the fuss all about?" I asked confused in a corridor of the Academy. In front of our little group was a much larger one of seemingly older students facing a wall.

"They are signing for the electives." I turned at the unexpected voice to face Shino. The Aburame was standing a little apart from us, probably being on his way out himself.

"Electives?" Naruto saved me from being the one to ask.

"There are specialized classes that can be taken during the last year. Only two per student though, from Ninjutsu classes to Politics." Shino explained pushing his dark glasses up. I could almost see the stars in Naruto's eyes. A frown appeared in my face. That most certainly wasn't a canon thing. I suppressed a sigh. It was a good thing I didn't intend on following canon anyway.

"Let's wait. I want to see what electives we'll have." I said.

"Do we have to? They are optional anyway." Shikamaru complained.

"You know your mother will force you to choose at least one, don't you?" I said with a raised eyebrow and he groaned.

"Can't let a man dream, can you?" He said eyeing me in annoyance. I smirked.

"Man? You'll be a man when your mother stops controlling your life." I said.

"Can't wait." He said looking back to the front.

"Isn't so good, really." We both turned to Naruto and I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry." Shikamaru apologized with a surprising amount of empathy in his voice. I gave him a reassuring smile. Sometimes I forgot that even though I'm technically an orphan, I wasn't the rule but the exception. Shikamaru seemed to have the same problem.

"It seems to be clearing, let's go see." Chouji pointed out. It wasn't really clearing, but some were already leaving. What was important was getting Naruto's mind away from bad thoughts. I nodded at the Akimichi and he nodded back. Shino followed us as we made our way to the board.

Ninjutsu. Fuinjutsu. Genjutsu. Bukijutsu. Medical Training. Recon and Tracking. Intelligence Gathering. Trapping. Mannerisms. Politics. Business.

'_Interesting.'_ I thought looking over the different lists. It didn't give details which were probably told in a class before one could sign up. But only knowing the lists was interesting.

"I'm going to sign up for Ninjutsu and I'll start kicking ass, believe it." Naruto said excitedly.

"Difficult, I want to sign up for almost everything." I groaned.

"Intelligence Gathering." Shikamaru said. I didn't comment. I remembered that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio specialized in exactly that so I guessed it made sense. However, I, as Eiji, didn't know if that was common knowledge so better keep my mouth shut.

"I think I'll take that too." Chouji said having gotten a pack of chips from… somewhere. I blinked.

"I would most probably take the Recon and Tracking course." I barely managed not to jump as Shino spoke from behind us. Chouji and Naruto weren't as lucky.

"Don't scare us like that!" Naruto said pointing at the Aburame and I almost wanted to say something along those lines.

"I was here the whole time." Shino replied with a deadpan.

"Well, that's some stealth you got there." I commented with a smirk and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Any tips?"

"It wasn't intentional." _'Who are you? Kuroko?'_, I thought.

"Hmmmm." I hummed while eyeing him. "We have a special Stealth exercise. Want to come with us? I'd like to see how you do when you actually want to be stealthy." I commented and he looked in our direction for a moment. It was a little unnerving not knowing if he was looking at me or not.

"It could prove useful." He said impassively after a while. I turned to the others and they didn't seem to have a problem with it. I received a couple of shrugs as response.

**[}-o-{]**

**Shino POV**

Eiji Satou was a mystery.

Why? Because he had appeared out of nowhere. Or maybe it was better to say that he had been surprisingly unnoticeable until this year at the Academy. And it all started with the first physical exercise, the laps.

That first sprint had taken everyone by surprise. He had obviously lagged behind and ended up slightly in front of the rest of the civilian average. His Shurikenjutsu had been as terrible as expected from the civilians and orphans that didn't have any previous training in the ninja arts. All about him screamed average.

But that had slowly changed. Now he stood at the top 3 in the Taijutsu spars, just below the highly physical heir of the Inuzuka clan, Kiba and the highly talented sole remaining member and heir of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke. He didn't even show signs of stopping his progress.

His Shurikenjutsu had improved at astonishing rates. In two months, he stood now in the same level as the most skilled throwers of the class. Granted, with stationary targets it was still difficult to measure his skill in that particular aspect but it was still impressive when compared with others of his same situation. Like his friend, Naruto, that was several steps behind him in that department even if he beat Eiji in the laps due to his seemingly unending stamina reserves.

Talking about the blond-haired knucklehead. They had become friends relatively early in the year. And it had come as a surprise for everyone. Although, the true surprise for me was to realize that Naruto didn't have friends. I hadn't noticed until Eiji started being around the blonde that the troublemaker didn't seem to have any company.

It was then that I started to pay closer attention to Eiji Satou. Because I started comparing Naruto to me. I didn't know why everyone seemed to avoid the blonde like the plague, but it was a situation eerily similar to the one faced by the Aburame clan in general. I had even noticed after some observation that almost everyone seemed to eye him with contempt. It was shocking. At most my clan were looked at with disgust. But actual loathing was surprising and a little disturbing.

What could Naruto have done to deserve that attitude from the village?

It was just another reason why I observed the little group that formed around one Eiji Satou. Because I knew he was the one that had brought in Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, despite the later having come to be closer to the Uzumaki. Seeing the lazy Nara that always slept in class wide awake and focused on a Shogi match against an obviously unskilled Eiji was a surprise.

Surprise was a word that seemed to follow the Satou.

So, I decided to approach the group tentatively. I wasn't surprised that I startled them. Aburame were known to have little presence. It was a skill developed to avoid the previously mentioned disgust of anyone that knew of our clan specialization. Eiji however, didn't seem startled by either my sudden appearance or even my sudden approach to them. Or he had kept his wits remarkably well just like Shikamaru.

Being invited to their little groups after school activities was another surprise of his. The Satou either didn't know about the Aburame clan or didn't care about our specialization. Probably the first, most people that came from non-shinobi families and orphans reacted the same to my clan after all.

So, it was because of that that I questioned them while they observed my approach to their stealth exercise. Which, by the way was an interesting take for it being that they even had feedback from their objectives. It was a smart idea.

"Do you know about the Aburame clan?" I asked bluntly to both orphans, Eiji and Naruto.

"No, should I?" Naruto asked confused and Eiji just raised a curious eyebrow. The latter's non-answer was an interesting response.

"I suppose not." I started. "We specialize in using insect colonies as… companions of sorts. Just like the Inuzuka have their Ninken." I explained simply. The Uzumaki frowned in confusion.

"How does that work? I haven't seen you with insects around like Dog Breath does with Akamaru." He asked, I noticed that Eiji remained silent.

"My clan lets them form hives inside our bodies, it's a symbiotic relationship. We provide them with a home and chakra and they help us in various situation." Naruto's turned understandably green.

"Well, didn't see that coming." This time it was Eiji who replied. I was almost surprised by his sudden response after his silence. But what _did_ surprise me was that he sounded amused. No sign of disgust or even uneasiness. "What can they do?" He asked instead. Despite Aburame's being known for showing very little emotion to almost everything I had to do conscious effort not to show my surprise at his nonchalance.

"Some have poisonous properties, some have sensing abilities, some can consume an enemy's chakra." I explained looking closely at his expression.

"Sounds useful." He commented. I noted that it must be the first time I had told someone about my clan without them reacting negatively. It was… an interesting development. Then he stopped suddenly. _'I guess it took some time for the idea to sink in.'_ I guessed. "We haven accidentally stepped on one, have we?" He asked nervously and I saw Naruto look around his feet.

"They stay mostly in contact with my body unless I use them for something." I explained stiffly.

"Oh, that's a relief." He sighed.

"So… erm…" Naruto started talking again with an uneasy expression and rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we have to be careful not to touch you suddenly, like smacking your arm or pushing you." The Uzumaki reasoned.

"You don't seem affected by this information." I pointed out almost incredulously. The blonde continued rubbing the back of his head looking away while the raven-haired boy just gave me a small smile.

"Well… I can't deny that it's… strange." Eiji said, being careful with his words. Still, it was a lot better than anyone else I had interacted with. "But to each their own, I guess. Just don't have them crawling on me and we are cool." He said calmly while Naruto nodded quickly next to him.

"I guess we cancelled the Stealth Training today, huh?" Shikamaru said next to us. I had forgotten he and Chouji were there for a moment.

"I guess we got distracted." Eiji chuckled.

"We were going to my house." Chouji informed me. I nodded. It was time for me to be on my way home too, I guessed. It had been interesting to be with the group for a moment. "You could come too if you want?" He continued and I paused, taking advantage of my glasses to look at all their expressions.

None of them seemed against the idea. Eiji smile was friendly, Shikamaru looked like he could care less as with everything else, Chouji did look like he wasn't entirely sure but didn't look against it either and Naruto still seemed to be looking around for bugs.

"Sure." I replied and we started walking towards the Akimichi compound.

I looked at the group, this time for a different reason.

Clan heirs that didn't seem to care about the Aburame's reputation. An orphan that was understandably uneasy but not disgusted. Another orphan that even seemed to react positively to my clan's specialization. What a strange group.

"Ne," Eiji called my attention with a curious expression. "Can I see one of those insects?"

Eiji Satou was a mystery, indeed.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Sorry for pulling a Tsunade on you guys, but I had to drink and gamble my sorrows awa- *Cough* I mean, study… yeah, I had to study…

Anyhow! I'm back and life stopped being a bitch for once. Let's see for how long. But before I jinx it even more, I'll get on with some actual Author Notes.

First of all, **Shino Aburame** makes an appearance! What do you think? Was it a bit forced? I get that impression but I wouldn't know. After last chapter I think I critic myself a bit too much. Which by the way, you are all awesome. I seriously thought people would flame me like there was no tomorrow when I published last chapter and there was nothing but positive feedback and _some_ critics to the battle scene. I can't tell you how relieved I am.

Also, I really liked how positively last chapter's **change of POV** was received. That's why I decided that I'll try to put a different point of view once in a while when I feel like it fits. It'll also help me keep characters on the spotlight as I plan to eventually have all the Konoha 12 in display as much as possible.

You may have noticed. But I really like to write **interactions**, even if they seem a bit pointless most of the time. I'm a fan of slowly building friendships and any kind of relationship really. I hope it isn't too much of a pain for you people. But I think that's kind of my thing.

I received some reviews talking about **relationships** too. Mostly suggesting that Eiji is paired with Naruto or with a guy in general. That's not happening. **I won't write slash**. At least not with the MC. Sorry to the slash fans, but it's just not my thing. There are also entirely too many of those in my opinion.

By the way, what do you think about my updates on the **status and skills?** Is it annoying? I like to keep you posted on how they improve in time but I could understand if you don't like it. I try to put things here and there in between to avoid it being just an annoying list of things but I don't know if I succeeded. I would like to know your thoughts.

Also, I wanted to say that I'm shocked by the amount of support this series got. Favorites, follows and reviews. I feel the love guys. I truly do. I hope you continue to like my work.

**Question 1:** Do you have anything you think I should add to the Electives?

**Question 2:** Who do you think will join the group next?

**See you.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 6**

"So, where are we going today?" Naruto asked cheerfully as I panted, my lungs desperately working to give my body much needed oxygen.

"I hate your stamina, Naruto." I grumbled as he waved me off. We started making our way to the physical training area for the conditioning exercises.

"I hate exercising." Shikamaru said, to which all of us rolled our eyes. I'm sure even Shino did.

I case anyone is wondering, the Aburame hadn't quite become a regular in our group. But he did stay with us during classes and hung out with us now and then. He mostly kept to himself while out of the Academy though. None of us, had a problem with that. We just assumed he just was that kind of person.

"Honestly, I don't feel like doing anything today. How about we go to your house and play some Shogi, Shikamaru?" I asked with my breathing slowly coming back to normal.

"Sure." The lazy genius said smirking at me while Naruto groaned.

"Nope, I'm not going to spend my day like that. Ne, Chouji, how about we go…" While the blonde knucklehead started making plans with the Akimichi heir, I was acutely aware of someone's eyes on us. Shikamaru and I looked at each other.

"Even ignoring it is getting troublesome." He said with a sigh and I couldn't help but agree.

For the longest time, someone was almost stalking us. Although, being completely fair, this person's attention wasn't focused on us. It was focused on Main Character-kun. You have three guesses as to who I'm talking about and the first two don't count.

I turned my head slightly to look at the girl with dark blue hair and almost white eyes. Hinata Hyuuga really hadn't changed much from canon apparently. She couldn't keep her eyes off Naruto during Academy hours, and although I couldn't prove it, I was sure she watched him outside from time to time. This meant that she also watched our group most of the time, as we always were together with him.

It wasn't like we had a problem with the girl, not really. It was just a bit… tiresome, to deal with her stares sometimes, not that the oblivious idiot noticed, but Shikamaru, Shino and I surely did. The Aburame hadn't commented on it though.

"I'm really starting to think we should do something about it." I said with a grimace.

"Like what?" The Nara asked me with a raised eyebrow. And I stared at him for a second, he could follow my train of thoughts no problem. Sure enough, he sighed again. "Do we have to? I don't know what is more troublesome, doing that or keeping things like this."

"I kind of want to help." I said with an awkward half smile. "Shyness is kinda cute, but sometimes it's just… a bit much. That's her case, honestly." I said trying not to insult her. I really didn't have a problem with her, I knew she was a great person. But that extreme shyness…

"You are remarkably not troublesome, Eiji. But sometimes…" He just ended the statement with yet another sigh and I smiled apologetically at him. "During the spar wait time?" He asked resigned.

"I guess." I shrugged. I looked around "Reckon I'll have to fight Kiba today?"

"Probably." He answered disinterestedly. "Can't get past this week." I nodded in agreement. I had been fortunately dodging that bullet for a long time. I was running out of time. Luckily for me, I was already at a level that I was confident I could beat the Inuzuka, or at least put up a hell of a fight. "I wouldn't worry too much."

"Thanks." I smiled at him. Shikamaru wasn't one to give compliments, that was as close as he could get to one.

Just a moment later, I received a notification.

**[Physical Conditioning has gone up a level.]**

To which I brought up the skill's screen.

**[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 13**

**Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 65%.]**

I didn't know how to feel with my progress lately. Some skills were starting to take a long time to level. Two weeks had passed since my official spar against Chouji and I had earned just one level on most skills except Shogi which had gone up three levels, Meditation having gone up two and Shuriken Throwing that hadn't leveled up at all yet. Even my stats slowed down considerably. I had only gotten one level for Strength and one for Dexterity, which still came with one for Chakra, and Constitution had leveled up twice.

I found myself wishing to get a new skill or something. I missed those times where I got levels left and right. But I was able to stop myself from delving in any other skill. If I fell for that, I would only increase my workload and slow my progress down even more. I couldn't afford that, not when none of my skills were at an acceptable level.

Once I had secured my place at the top of the class, only then I would consider something new. Maybe I would start training Senbon Throwing, or maybe I would ask Iruka-sensei for some tips about chakra control. That way I could get a head start on that while avoiding any kind of unwanted attention. But that was for later. I didn't have the time to use on other skills when I could barely manage as it was.

"Ok, ok." Sensei called for our attention while clapping. "Good job everyone, it's lunch break time and then we start with the Taijutsu spars."

"What did you bring today, Eiji?!" An excited Naruto appeared in front of my face as if he had used Shunshin, quickly followed by Chouji. I deadpanned at the both of them.

"You brought this on yourself." Shikamaru pointed out before I could say something and I sighed.

**[}-o-{]**

"Eiji Satou vs Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka-sensei called out and my mind instantly thought: _'GG.'_ After groaning and starting my way to the circle I consoled myself with the thought that at least it wasn't Kiba the one that would give me my first defeat.

As the brooding survivor made his way, I called a couple of screens.

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 131/320**

**Chakra Points: 110/11****0**

**Strength: 14**

**Dexterity: 11**

**Constitution: 16**

**Chakra: 11**

**Chakra control: E]**

Well, he definitely had better stats than I did. The only thing I could probably rival him in was Constitution. But that was only a possibility, not a fact. For everything else, I was painfully behind.

**[Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 16**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.]**

Maybe we were on the same level in Taijutsu though, so there was my silver lining.

**[Physical Resistance – Lvl 4**

**Reduces the damaged received by purely physical attacks by 4%]**

Physical Resistance was still painfully low. I didn't have any delusions about the skill. It was just something that _was there_. Not a game changing skill. At least, not yet. And at the rate it leveled? Not ever.

Shaking those thoughts from my head and toning out the fangirls' screams, I focused on Sasuke. His expression was as brooding as ever, no surprise there. What did surprise me was that he seemed to want to start the match quickly, almost… eagerly. He was never eager for a spar. Never. I gulped as we did the Seal of Confrontation. After that we both jumped back to put some distance between us and took our stances.

I waited, the Uchiha's Taijutsu style consisted mainly of countering the opponent's attacks. The Sharingan made that stupidly easy after all. And while Sasuke didn't actually have the Sharingan yet, he still used the style and with impressive results too. No, I wouldn't be the one to attack. My best bet was to try and counter _him_ instead. A gamble really, but considering that I was weaker than him in almost every aspect, everything in this match would be a gamble really.

He rushed at me and I braced myself. A punch was directed at my face. Rotating my arm, I pushed his out of the way, effectively preventing the hit. Meanwhile my other hand formed a fist and flew towards his side.

He stepped aside dodging my punch before throwing a kick behind my leg. Good news, I didn't end up on the floor. Bad news, my balance was ruined for a second. That second was enough for him to punch the air out of me with a fist to the gut.

With a step back he readied himself for another kick, this time for more than just ruining my balance. Coughing to get my lungs working again I followed his example stepping back, out of his reach. I felt the wind produced by his foot graze my face. _'Too close.'_

As I focused on him again, I paled, he was already on me. Another punch to the gut made me fold like a wet paper and I fell to my knees. A kick to the side of my head made everything turn white and I felt my face hit the ground.

I heard voices, voices my mind was too slow to translate into any kind of meaning. I saw lights, flashes of color all over my sight. But the feeling of the ground bellow me was oddly clear. Slowly and shakily, I pushed myself off the ground. I heard the voices lower their volume, but not stopping. I didn't hear Iruka-sensei calling the match, fortunately for me.

"You should stay down." It took my brain a lot longer than it should to decipher what Sasuke said to me. But eventually I did. I was still laying pathetically on the ground, the only think keeping our teacher from calling the match was my arms supporting my upper body weakly and awkwardly in the air. Before answering, I pushed a leg underneath me. As the lights slowly blinked out of my sight, I found myself kneeling and staring down at the earth.

I slowly turned my gaze to the side, where the Uchiha stood, relaxed but still focused on me. He hadn't let his guard down. I chuckled to myself. Of course, he hadn't.

At that moment, I thought about it. I thought about giving up. And I thought about my friends too. I would have expected Naruto to be shouting some nonsense, to use his Talk Jutsu on me. Just as I still remembered him doing in the Chuunin exams with Hinata and Sakura. But he didn't.

"Stand up." It was Shikamaru. I was so shocked I almost fell face first into the ground again. "It'll be too troublesome to deal with your training if you lose." He said and I chuckled again.

"What the lazy ass said." This time it _was_ Naruto. I could almost hear the iconic grin on his face.

They were watching. My friends were watching. But did it really matter? It was just an Academy spar after all. I could keep training and then come back for a rematch. It would be fine. It wasn't that important, not really.

_"You have to dream bigger!"_ Naruto's words resounded in my head and I pushed myself off the ground, staggering to a side on my weak legs. Yeah, if I gave up here, what was to stop me from giving up later on. From giving up in my dream. No. I had a nindo.

Live life to the fullest.

Sasuke didn't look like he had any problem waiting for me. That was strange but I could definitely work with that. I looked around, acting groggier than I actually was. Looking for something that could turn the tide of the battle. Then I saw it and a crazy plan formed in my head. A smirk formed in my head.

"Oi," I called out while mentally bringing a couple of screens to see if my plan could work. Yeah, more than enough. Thank Kami for the schedule for the spars. "Two seconds. In two seconds, I'll take you out." He smirked back at me.

"We'll see." He simply said taking his stands.

'_Running!'_ I casted in my mind while speeding towards him. His eyes widened in surprise. Once I was close, I jumped feet first towards him. He stepped to the side confidently. I kept smirking as I separated my feet and a second later, I wrapped both legs around his waist height.

The speed of my flight didn't stop though. So, with all that momentum I swung my body in a circle making the Uchiha's body rotate with me and throwing him completely off balance. And then I let go, throwing him off to a side. Both of us fell to the ground.

I laughed. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

"What's so funny." He said annoyed. "All that just for-"

"Winner, Eiji Satou." Iruka called out over my laughs.

"Huh?!" Sasuke wasn't the only one to shout that in shock. I turned towards him and with a smirk in my face I put my index finger to the ground.

"Look down." He did and his mouth fell open. He was just outside the circle. "Yes!" I exclaimed spreading my arms still sprawled on the ground. "First place, baby!" I laughed before I felt someone get a hold of my arm and pull me up.

"That. Was. So. AWESOME!" Naruto exclaimed, almost making me go deaf. "You should have seen the teme's face. It was priceless. Best prank ever, believe it!" He all but shouted while helping me to our group of friends.

"Good job!" Chouji congratulated offering me from his bag of chips. I happily took him on his offer. I felt amazing.

"Certainly, an unexpected tactic." Shino said pushing his glasses up.

"If only you were so smart during our matches." Shikamaru grumbled with a bored tone. I didn't even feel the need to smack him.

"We've got to get dinner at Ichiraku's. I have to celebrate this." I commented, making Naruto beam at me.

"Don't know what the fuss is about." Shikamaru shrugged. "You've trained for this all this time, haven't you?" He said as I took my seat. I stared at him as my brain caught what he really meant. I smiled.

"Sometimes I think you are a tsundere or something, Shika." I replied and he huffed unaffected.

"Troublesome." Was all the answer I got. My grin widened as a screen came up.

**[Quest Complete: Win a spar against the first place****.**

**Reward:**

**+6 Taijutsu Level**

**+2 to all Physical Stats]**

**[Chakra has gone up a level.]**

**[Chakra has gone up a level.]**

'_Wait, why isn't it Basic-'_

**[Skill Maxed: Basic Taijutsu]**

**[New Skill Adquired: Intermediate Taijutsu]**

I looked at the screens in stunned silence before mentally calling another one.

**[Intermediate Taijutsu (Active) – Lvl 3**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.**

**Active Effect – Increases the user's physical stats by 2.**

**Active Effect Consumption 50 Energy Points per second.]**

'_Cool, an Active Effect, finally.'_ Then I froze. _'… 50 Energy Points per second… are YOU FUCKING __**KIDDING**__-__'_

"You ok there?" Shikamaru said waving his hand in front of my face. I shook my head before turning to him. "He hit you pretty hard in the head, didn't he?" He added with his usual bored tone, his eyes looked slightly concerned though, Naruto and Chouji weren't as reserved.

"Maybe." I said weakly. "I'll be fine, don't worry. Just need a minute or two." They seemed to take my word for it and continued watching the spars. Fortunately for me, Shikamaru didn't push for a Shogi match.

"Sasuke is still the best!" Someone screeched. I turned to see a pink haired banshee screaming like her life depended on it. Not that she was the only one, just the more… vocal. "He just won with a trick! A cheap trick a that!" The rest of the fangirls nodded along as she pointed at me like I had committed the worst kind of sin.

"Really, Naruto?" I asked in disbelief. "Of the whole lot of them…" I shook my head.

"Well." He scratched the back of his neck. "I was pretty desperate."

"Don't worry, we'll get you a better girlfriend." I looked him up and down noting his still orange clothes. I hadn't been able to convince him to tone it down yet. But I would even if it was the last thing I did. "Eventually." I said grimacing.

"Can you stop insulting the orange?!" He exclaimed indignantly and I shook my head.

"Look at the bright side." Shikamaru said lazily waving his hand and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"And that is?" I asked and he seemed to take a moment to think about it.

"Errr… Ino isn't shouting together with her?" He asked more than stated and I turned again. Said Yamanaka was staring straight at me with an unreadable face.

"She isn't planning my death… is she?" I asked nervously.

"Hmm… Probably not." Chouji answered while putting another handful of chips in his mouth. I gulped before turning to the board between Shika and me.

"Let's just play Shogi." He didn't comment but we did start a match.

In between plays, I stared at the new skill. I had a good excuse for playing under my normal level anyway. 50 Energy Points was _a_ _lot_. Basically, I could only use its effect for all of 7 seconds. That was shit. Especially considering that it only gave 2 points to each stat. Taking a deep breath in, I tried to see where the trick was. In the end though, I just deduced that the stat increase would be worth it after I leveled it up. That and hopefully the consumption would lower considerably too. _'Here's hoping.'_ I thought to myself holding back a grimace.

Once I got over that bitter piece of news, I slowly regained my smile. 6 levels in the Taijutsu skills and two in each Physical stat. Basically, I was top of the class in Taijutsu now. No matter that I barely won by a technicality. Now I had the power to back it up. I was sure I had better stats than Sasuke now…

Or that's what I would like to think.

However, the spar was too one-sided. There had to be a reason for that. And then I noticed the problem. My Dexterity was too low. He had been too fast for me to do anything. I had probably caught up to him in terms of Constitution and Strength. And the levels in Taijutsu probably put me ahead or at his level. But he was too fast for me to do anything. I wouldn't be able to beat him if I couldn't even land a hit. The only reason I caught him was my Running speed increase and a trick.

I had been ignoring my Dexterity. Mostly because I didn't have a good way to increase it nor the time focus on that stat only. But with the progress I saved due to the Quest, things would change. I could spend less time training Taijutsu and Physical Conditioning now.

With those thoughts in mind, I started changing my training routine. The only things I knew affected Dexterity were the Shurikenjutsu skills and to a lower extent, Running. Which actually made me pretty happy. I loved Running and I really wanted to start making perfect scores in the Shurikenjutsu training. I was also curious now that I had seen what happened with a skill that I managed to max.

We stopped playing when Hinata was called for a spar and focused on her fight. It was both interesting and entertaining to see. I had always thought that the Gentle Fist was really cool to look in action, it was even more so in real life.

"That style is really interesting." I commented lightly.

"Cool, isn't it?" Naruto exclaimed. "Think Hinata-chan would teach me?" _'She would probably faint just with you asking, Naruto.'_ I thought to myself. Shikamaru looked like he had thought the same thing.

"It could happen." The Nara ended up saying with a barely restrained smirk. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't think I could use that style." Said a dejected Chouji. I nodded.

"Probably not. It's all precision and less force, basically the opposite of your style." He nodded back. "I wouldn't feel too bad if I were you though. You are the strongest one here, that style wouldn't be suited for you." He paused his eating to turn to me.

"Thanks." He said almost beaming at me. He really had confidence issues.

"Just stating facts." I replied smiling back. A moment later Hinata won her match. The only ones that could do something to her were Ino and Sakura after all, and considering the small numbers of the female part of the class, the teachers couldn't keep the spars just to the capable fighters and heirs. That group was conformed only by the aforementioned trio after all, and that was too small a number to exclude the others. As she took her seat, I stood up. "I'll be back in a second."

As I made my way to where she was, I saw her start fidgeting and poking her fingers together, no doubt aware I was going towards her. I sat next to her and extended my hand to introduce myself. Not that I thought she didn't know me, but I wanted to keep myself as polite as I could.

"Nice match." I said with a smile. "I'm Eiji Satou, by the way."

"T-t-thank you." She stuttered out. I did my best to keep my face from expressing anything about it. "Hinata H-Hyuuga." She said shyly taking my hand.

"You hold back a lot when you spar." I pointed out and she tensed up. "I was just wondering why."

"I-I don't like f-fighting." She said looking away from me and poking her fingers together again.

"You know we are training to be ninja, right?" I asked keeping my tone from sounding like I was mocking her. Her only answer was looking down. "I meant that we need to know how to fight. I wouldn't want you to hold back if you sparred against me. It would make the spar useless if I can't improve. I don't know if what I say makes sense to you." I explained and she kept her gaze down.

"I-I know." She whispered, so low I barely caught it. "I still d-don't like it." She admitted and I held back a sigh.

"What's your style's name?" I asked changing topics.

"G-Gentle Fist." She answered.

"Why is it called that?" I knew obviously, but Eiji didn't so I played the part.

"B-Because even the lightest h-hit can do serious d-damage." Well, her stutter wasn't so bad. Or maybe it was because I wasn't Naruto. Yeah, that was probable.

"Wow, sounds dangerous." I commented.

"I-It is." She nodded, suddenly looking much more nervous.

"And why's that?" I continued asking.

"With the B-Byakugan and i-injected chakra through o-our fingers…" She hesitated for a second. "w-we can c-cause internal d-damage." She explained. "W-we can also close t-tenketsus." She added after a moment.

"Tenketsus are the places from where we can use chakra… right?" Thankfully, we had had classes about that, although sensei tended to just gloss over it as we would see it in depth next year.

"Right." She confirmed. Not that I needed her to.

"Closing tenketsus, wouldn't you basically disable someone without actually hurting them?" I asked this time and she seemed a bit stunned.

"It c-could be the case… P-People still can use T-Taijutsu though." She answered.

"Still, leaving someone unable to use chakra is basically taking them out. Not many can fight that well only using Taijutsu." I reasoned.

"True." She accepted.

"I see why someone would call it Gentle Fist. You can basically defeat someone without damaging them." I said. I had finally reached the point that I wanted to. If I remembered correctly, Hinata was a bit like Chouji. Too gentle to fight properly. I wanted to show her that fighting didn't actually mean damage, especially for her.

"I guess so." She nodded.

"It's a pity you need your bloodline limit. I would love to learn that style." I commented.

"Y-You could." She replied and my head snapped at her. I didn't know that, so, I was pretty surprised.

"Really?" She seemed taken aback by my reaction and leaned back with wide eyes before simply humming and nodding. "B-But, how?" I asked incredulously. "You said you needed the Byakugan." I pointed out.

"N-Normally, y-you do." The Hyuuga answered. "But some blocks and o-organ s-strikes don't need B-Byakugan precision to be done." She explained and I stared at her wide eyed until she started fidgeting again.

"Could you teach me?" I asked almost pleading.

"I-I'm not s-sure." She said looking away. "I-It's a c-clan style after all." Her eyes dropped and a sad smile formed in her face.

"Hmm. Then you need permission?" My voice came out calmer this time as I realized I was making her uncomfortable.

"Y-Yes, and I d-doubt I could g-get it." She replied with a sad tone.

"I see. Then… how about spars. You can do that outside of the Academy, can't you?" She seemed surprised that I hadn't pushed the issue or just left her after that.

"I-I c-can. W-Why?" Hinata asked curious and nervous at the same time.

"You could join us." I offered with a smile. "Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto and I get together some times to spar against each other. It's good practice." I explained and I had to suppress an amused smile as I saw her face slowly turn red after I mentioned Naruto. "We do stealth practice, play Shogi and go out to eat too, if you are interested. As I said, you are welcome to join if you want." I finished while standing up and shaking the dust off my clothes. "It was good talking to you, Hinata, see you later."

"S-See you later." And like that, our little conversation was over. Internally, I wondered if she would be brave enough to ask her father about teaching us the Gentle Fist, or even just about hanging out with us. It would probably take a long time, if ever.

"Let's continue, shall we?" I asked Shikamaru as I took my usual seat in front of him.

"How did it go?" He asked making his move.

"It went well, I think. We'll have to see." I shrugged.

**[}-o-{]**

**In two different locations roughly at the same time**

"He defeated the Uchiha." Said a serious, yet curious, voice. "Admittedly, through a trick, but he did. What do we know about the boy?" The person asked his subordinate.

"Orphan of the Kyuubi Incident. Nothing of notice after that until the start of this year's Academy classes." Another voice replied. "Possible prodigy, possible bloodline limit, possibly both."

"What bloodline limit?"

"Unregistered, Unknown. So far, we have collected an increase in running speed at will, occasional decrease of presence while engaging in stealth based activities and an abnormally high development in the strength and stamina departments, all this without the use of chakra. It is believed that if he does have a bloodline limit it is one based around development."

"Hmm… anything else of notice?"

"He has been surrounding himself with the Akimichi, Nara and Aburame clan heirs and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. He has also approached the current Hyuuga heiress."

"I see… Gathering political power or just capable individuals… or both… maybe…" The leader pondered for a moment before turning to his subordinate. "Keep me up to date with any new information that you find about him. Eiji Satou seems like an interesting… individual."

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, it took a long ass time to get this done. I'm facing a pretty serious writer's block apparently. I almost forced myself to write this. But it had to be done. You all deserve it after all. Everyday, I keep getting new followers for this story and it's awesome, I thought it would have stopped by now.

Anyway, it was a somewhat eventful chapter wasn't it? I hope the Sasuke fight was clear enough. I hope I didn't overpower or underpower him or Eiji. Then there's the Hinata conversation. Did I make her stutter too much? Too little? Don't know. If I went too far say so and I'll tone it down next time unless Naruto is around. About the two different leaders, I'm sure people won't have any problem guessing them. Or at least one of them.

**Question of the Day:** What do you think about the system I use? I've had some people tell me about how my 'butchered' system sucks or how a balanced Gamer doesn't make sense because I could do the same story without the system at all. I disagree, at least with the second part, as there are several things that are possible only through the game. Eventually there will be more cases of this. I explained some of them in the talk of the Unknowns.

As always, leave a review, they help a lot in the motivation department when I'm not dealing with writer's block. Ugh.

**See you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 7**

**[Running (Active) – Lvl 16**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.**

**Consumption 6 Energy Points per second.]**

I grinned like a madman as I got inside my apartment. Finally, I had reached another milestone with Running. The cost had gone down another little bit. To most people, it would be just another almost unnoticeable change. To me though, it meant a lot. Why? Simple. With this little boost, the two levels I had achieved in Dexterity and the level I got in Constitution, another goal would be met. It was time to dethrone the speed demons.

The last two weeks had been a lot different from the time before. With me having stopping my extra training in Taijutsu and Physical Conditioning outside of classes, I had a lot more free-time. Free-time that was spent in Shurikenjutsu and Running specifically. Although, being honest, I didn't quite use as much time in those really. I did increase that training, but I had been focused on Meditation too. Considering that I spent a crazy amount of Energy Points with Running every day, both in class and out of it, I had spent a long time just recovering and that meant Meditation.

That much time to myself had opened my mind to some things, mainly my chakra training or rather lack thereof. I still stood by my choice to focus on things that were actually being put to test. But I realized something that had escaped my mind. The first step of chakra control was the Leaf Concentration exercise. Which was simply sticking a leaf to your forehead. Which in turn was something that I could pretty easily do while meditating. I really really wanted to punch myself when I realized that.

However, there was no point in crying over spilt milk. I could still take advantage of that. I just had to convince Iruka to teach me the exercise and I could start. I would still be over half a year ahead of the class if I could manage that. Which would still be pretty awesome.

Finishing a little snack to recover some stamina after training, I sat down and started meditating. I was pretty sure I was approaching another checkpoint in that skill too. I wasn't sure what it was but I could feel it. My mind seemed to try to reach something every time I used the skill these days and I couldn't wait to find out what I was. A little part of me wished it was Natural Energy, and go all Sage before even being out of the Academy.

In the meantime, though, I just enjoyed the feeling of my chakra coursing through my body. Even after all that time had passed, I had never got over the excitement of it. The raw energy traveling through my pathways to every single part of my body was exhilarating. It was the best, plain and simple. All that vanished when I opened my eyes and the blood froze inside my veins.

I wasn't looking at my apartment's room anymore. Instead I was surrounded by white walls, a white ceiling and an extra white tiled floor. The bed I was sitting on was almost equally white, with just a light grey sheet to offer a change of color. My breath got caught on my throat as I felt a pressure on my chest, like an oppressing cold hand wrapping itself around my lungs and heart.

It was a hospital room.

_My_ hospital room.

Screens had popped up, but my mind didn't register them. The sight in front of me was everything I could see. As my panic grew, I desperately stood up and ran towards the only way out of the room, a door. Opening it only served to fuel my dread as I looked outside.

The Void.

My breath quickened and I felt cold sweat slowly cover my body. My hands started shaking and my legs felt like they would give at any moment. It couldn't be happening. I had escaped that room. I had gotten out of the Void.

I couldn't be back.

Desperately, my eyes turned towards the scroll-like screen. Surprise colored my expression as I read the messages. A deep breath did wonders to calm down my emotions, although it didn't help my body stop shaking from the shock.

**[Meditation has gone up a level.]**

**[You have unlocked your Mindscape.]**

'This_ is my Mindscape?'_ I thought with no small amount of disgust. _'No, this just won't do.'_ Looking back to the screen, I considered it. With some mental commands I tried to see if there was a skill or perk about it, but there was nothing. Taking a deep breath in, even though I was on my mindscape and shouldn't need to breath at all, I looked around willing the space to change.

Slowly, the room changed into my apartment's kitchen/dinning room, a small hall attached to it with a door to a bathroom and my room. Looking out through the window, I saw the Void still there. This time with a calmer mind, I was able to see small almost invisible bubbles spread over the empty space. Willing one to come closer I saw images flashing inside.

Memories.

I needed to protect my mind, I realized. A Yamanaka would have a field day with my literally empty mind. There was absolutely nothing to stop them from seeing everything. I couldn't let that happen. Unnecessarily cracking my neck, I set myself to work.

Soon, taking advantage of all the maps I had drawn, which I could easily summon inside my mindscape, I had an altered version of Konoha as my mindscape. There were a lot of places I hadn't explored yet, but it would do. Kami bless the Cartography skill. It wasn't like this for nothing:

**[Cartography – Lvl 9**

**Improves the quality of maps drawn by 45%.]**

With the base of it all set, I started placing my memories in 'secure places'. What I did was place them inside places with meaning and behind a password. Like inside Naruto's apartment with the password 'Wanna go to Ichiraku's you knuckleheaded stamina freak?' or Shikamaru's house with the password 'Wanna play Shogi you lazy cloud watcher?' and so on. I don't know how well it would work but I willed it to be so that if someone tried to access my memories without the right passwords they would be sent right to the Void, which I had placed below the ground. If it actually worked then anyone stupid enough to try to get something out of my mind would get trapped inside that hell until they gave up.

I did everything as quick as I could. I didn't want to go to bed too late. I would probably come back the next day to work on details and maybe change passwords and some places. I had to get something especially secure for my 'past' memories after all. For now, it would do.

Willing myself out of the mindscape, I was welcomed by another screen.

**[New Perk Acquired: Inner Strength]**

**[Inner Strength**

**Increased resistance to outside control of the mind and the body. (not applied to Genjutsu)]**

'_Useful, really useful.'_ I thought while grinning. I could think off the top of my head of two techniques that this would be almost a necessity against. The Yamanaka and the Nara techniques. Not bad for a first perk to have. Not bad at all.

Looking at the clock, I cursed. Better go to bed, I had plans for tomorrow.

**[}-o-{]**

"Start." Iruka-sensei called out and I instantly activated Running as usual. Right after that, I heard Kiba cursing under his breath. Poor guy never got over his loss. It only added to my amusement, to be honest.

After a few laps, I heard Naruto shouting at me as I passed right next to Sasuke and him. It was the first time I had gotten a whole lap past them. That sweet sweet decrease in the cost of Running kept me going for a long time. A minute or so if my math was right. That was a _long_ time to have double my normal speed. Just long enough to get a lap on the speed and stamina demons.

And also, just enough to finally end in first place before they could caught up.

**[Quest Complete: Finish the running exercise in first place**

**Reward:**

**\+ 4 Running Level**

**\+ 1 Dexterity Level]**

**[Skill Maxed: Running]**

**[New Skill Acquired: Free Running]**

'_Sweet.'_ I said grinning madly at the screens. With that reward and my focused training Dexterity was already catching up with my strength. That was great news. But one could never have too much speed. I really really wanted to make Lee look slow in comparison to me. No offence to Chouji, but I had realized that speed was a lot better than strength in my spar with Sasuke.

"That has to be a Jutsu." Naruto said for the hundredth time, the only difference from all the other times was that he was pouting now. I only chuckled at him as we made our way towards the Physical Training area.

"You wish, that way you would have a chance at learning it. It's all skill, my dumb friend." I said patting him in the shoulder. It wasn't even a lie, I thought amused.

"You are so unfair." He whined. _'You are one to talk, you are almost a literal chakra beast.'_ I thought to myself. We would get to that part eventually.

"Just give up, Naruto. It's too troublesome to try and get him to talk about his trick. You'll never get it out of him." Shikamaru said shaking his head at us.

"See, he knows me. I'm disappointed in you, I thought you knew me better than that, Naruto." He just kept pouting.

"Does that mean we get to celebrate your first place with food again?" Chouji asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes. Shikamaru and I shared a look before I smirked at the Akimichi and shook my head.

"Of course. You know what. If I get my perfect score in the Shurikenjutsu practice today, I'll prepare a feast for all of us. Shino included." I added the final part turning towards the Aburame.

"I shall make myself available then." The bug lover said pushing his sunglasses up.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy." I said grinning at him.

"Betting against you in that would be stupid. You've been awfully close since a week ago." Shikamaru pointed out with a bored look. "Everyone knows you'll achieve it any day now."

"Oh, I feel the love, guys." I said wiping a non-existent tear from my eye.

**[}-o-{]**

"Your turn, Eiji." Iruka said as I took my place in the shooting range. Meanwhile, I just glared at a screen in front of me.

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 10**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a shuriken by 100%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 9**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 90%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]**

Just a level shy of perfection. Today was the day I would achieve it. I knew it. I would do it. A now familiar nervousness crept through my body. The shurikens left my hand as fast as I could draw them from the pouch we used during the exercise. We weren't allowed to have our own weapons until graduation after all. All the metal stars buried themselves right in the tiny yellow point in the center of every target. Some students called them perfect perfect hits. The center of the center.

I took a deep breath in as I prepared myself for the Kunai part. This would take much more effort if I wanted to overcome that level I still lacked to pull of the feat. Concentrating as much as I could I started shooting slowly this time. With every perfect hit I grew more nervous instead of the other way around, until I reached the last one. Flexing my fingers in an attempt to shake off the nervousness, I took one more Kunai and readied myself.

I took a shaky breath in as I saw the knife-like weapon fly off my hand and stared as it made its way towards the target in what seemed like slow motion. It hit. It hit right in the center. The center of the center.

"Yes!" I cheered to myself before I heard Naruto echo me. With a face-splitting grin plastered on my face, I let myself be shaken by the excited blond as I read over the new screens.

**[Kunai Throwing has gone up a level.]**

**[Quest Complete: Achieve a perfect score in the Shurikenjutsu exercise**

**Reward:**

**\+ 2 Levels to all Shurikenjutsu Skills.]**

I brought up the skill tree without missing a beat.

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a shuriken by 100%.**

**Increases accuracy against**** a moving target with a shuriken by 20%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 100%.**

**Increases accuracy against**** a moving target with a shuriken by 20%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 3**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 30%.]**

I didn't even have words to explain how awesome it felt to look at the skills now. That Quest Reward had probably saved me months of training. This last month had been productive as fuck, if I do say so myself.

"We'll have a feast!" An excited Chouji seemed to realize finally and I couldn't hold back a laugh at that. I would try my best to cook like my life depended on it. First, because this meant that I was the best of the class. I was first place in Taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu and even the laps. Second, because I wanted to do something nice for my friends too. I wouldn't be half as good without their help in my training after all.

However, I had something to do before I went home and started cooking. As everyone left the Academy I stayed behind. Iruka-sensei looked up at me from his notes.

"Can I do something for you, Eiji? Good job in the laps and the Shurikenjutsu practice, by the way. I'm truly proud of your progress." He said smiling at me, gesture that I returned.

"I was wondering if I could start training with Senbon now, Sensei." I asked as confidently as I could. At the start of the year he had only said that we could ask about that 'later' and that was it. Maybe I was here too soon? But considering that I had already perfect accuracy in stationary targets, to keep training as I did now would be a waste of time, literally.

"Of course." He answered easily. "I've honestly been waiting for you to ask since some time ago." He then proceeded to chuckle at my gob smacked expression. "Did you think we required you to have completely perfect accuracy to start senbon training? While the key part of using senbon is accuracy, having perfect aim with kunai and shuriken doesn't mean that much as all of them are different." He explained with an indulging smile that made me feel like the kid I was supposed to be. "So, yes, you can start with it during the next class on Shurikenjutsu."

"Thank you, sensei." I said sincerely with as much emotion as I could muster. "Also…" I started again, this time much more nervously and the scarred teacher raised a curious eyebrow at me. "I was wondering if you would consider… starting my chakra training early." I finished while straightening my back to stare back at the surprised teacher.

"I can honestly say that I'm surprised." He said with an undertone of disappointment that actually made me feel bad. "It's not like you are the first one to ask that question. But you have been the perfect student so far, Eiji. I didn't think you would be so eager for jutsu. That's more something that I would expect from Naruto or Kiba." He admitted.

"This isn't about flashy jutsu." I countered. "This is about me having the power I'll need once I become a shinobi."

"The Academy has a program especially planned to train shinobi, Eiji. You'll have what you need."

"Yeah, I'll have what I need to be another member of the Genin Corps." I said bitterly and I saw his shoulders sag a little. "What chance do orphans like me stand against Clan heirs or even Clan members? They have bloodline limits, special taijutsu styles, special ninjutsu. Even the training that they get from their families is enough of an advantage. What can we orphan and civilians do against that?"

"Even with that, you still stand at the top of the class." He tried to reason.

"That's because we aren't using chakra at all. If I don't get started on my training in advance, I'll start next year right where I started this one, at the bottom." I replied containing my emotions as much as I could. "I refuse to be just another Corps Genin that takes several years just to be promoted to Chuunin because I didn't have a true Jounin-sensei to train me. And to get a Jounin-sensei I'll need to be high enough in the class to stand right beside the Clan heirs."

"I knew explaining the separation of Genin Teams and the Genin Corps was a bad idea." He said massaging the bridge of his nose, right over his scar. Then he just sat there staring at me without saying anything and I found myself incapable of further defending my case.

The system we were talking about was simple enough. What apparently went unsaid in the manga and show was what happened to everyone that wasn't on a Genin Team. Because, honestly, who would believe that the Academy only passed around 9 students in a good year considering that the only people mentioned from the year prior were Team Guy.

The simple version was that the students were divided in two groups. Those with potential and those without it. The formers would be divided in teams led by a Jounin that would both teach the Genin and guide them through their missions, acting as both teacher and guard in order for the village not to lose a possible valuable asset.

The latters were the Genin Corps, or basically those that didn't quite cut it. These students could still become Genin, but would instead be left on their own to do D rank missions. After some time, they would eventually gather enough standing and with some luck a few other such Genin that would take C ranks with them. If they were fortunate enough, they would become Chunin after a few years.

There's no need to say which group I wanted to be in.

Being completely honest, I could most probably become a Team member without much problem. Between the System and the sheer time, I spent training, it would be easy enough. But I didn't want to just pass. No. I knew what was coming, and I wanted to be as prepared as I could.

I had been neglecting my chakra training because I had too many skills to train in. Now that I had somewhat took off the weight of Taijutsu, I had the time I needed to start with chakra control if I could. Now I just needed the actual knowledge.

"I can't give you permission to do it." Iruka said finally making me deflate in my seat. "And I also can't teach you anything related to chakra in depth until next year." He added making my head drop. "But," I perked up instantly. "I'll ask the higher ups. _They_ can give you permission to start it and me permission to teach you. But you'll have to wait for an answer." He informed me and just sat there staring at him with wide eyes for a long moment before snapping out of it.

"O-Of course." I replied quickly. "I'll wait, thank you. Thank you very much, Iruka-sensei." I said standing up and bowing to him. He just chuckled good-naturedly.

"I don't think you know. But I'm an orphan too." He started and obviously I knew it, but it felt somewhat different to have him tell me about it. Most of my knowledge could be changed do to this being an AU. Which it was, as was confirmed by the electives. "I know exactly what you feel, Eiji. And like I said, you are an excellent student. I want to see you go far, for all of us orphans." He gave me a warm smile that I returned instantly.

"I'll make sure not to disappoint, Sensei."

**[}-o-{]**

**Shikaku Nara POV**

It had been a troublesome day. So very troublesome.

I was just coming back from a long and troublesome meeting with the Hokage and his councilors. Curses were fired inside my mind towards the day that I got placed in the position of Jounin Commander. It was such a drag.

It had been especially troublesome due to the number of unknowns regarding the topic of the meeting. That said topic would most probably be located inside my house playing Shogi against my son didn't help matters. I am obviously talking about one Eiji Satou.

He had garnered the attention almost instantly at the start of the year by befriending the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, Naruto Uzumaki. And while that by itself wasn't such a worrisome thing, it did justify an instant background check. Nobody wanted to risk him being a spy or worse, a Root member. Danzo getting his hands in something as dangerous as a Tailed Beast was too troublesome.

The results of that investigation had been so average that it was baffling. It almost made everyone think he was some kind of spy if not for the fact that we had checked so many times it wasn't even funny. It was almost too average for it to be true, but alas, it was. This made even less sense as time passed.

Two things happened after that. First, the boy had started to grow strong and to display some… interesting abilities, nothing too impressive, but interesting nonetheless, at least at that moment. The second was him proceeding to befriend the Akimichi heir, Chouji, and my son, Shikamaru. It had caused no small amount of worry for my friend, Choza's, family and mine. We had investigated the boy once more only to come out with the same results.

Yoshino and I had been keeping a close eye on him. A lot of people had tried and still tried to get close to young impressionable heirs of the powerful clans. Stupid and troublesome, the lot of them.

However, the boy seemed to be a genuine friend to all three of his little circle. I would even go as far as saying that he was especially close to my son. He seemed smart enough to somewhat keep up with him, at least, and he had the will not to crumble at the evident superiority of the Nara's strategic mind, which more often than not scared the less intelligent people. The fact that he didn't seem to give up and continued to try made even me want to give it a go against him in Shogi. It had been a long time since someone played against me with some actual will behind it after all.

For that alone, I was grateful for the Satou's existence, if nothing else. But he had done much more than that. He had gained some favor from both the Akimichi and us, the Nara, when he got our heirs to train, if only a bit. Choza had been over the moon when Satou got his son to start taking Taijutsu training more seriously and to throw actual punches. And I was just happy that Yoshino wasn't shouting about Shikamaru napping all day. It made it easier for _me_ to take naps.

However, the troublesome boy hadn't stopped there. No, he continued to grow, his running boost had gotten faster and lasted for longer. He seemed to be able to reduce his very _presence_ when he wanted to go unnoticed and the way his strength and stamina grew was prodigious at the very least. That combined with the fact that he had gotten yet another heir in his circle in the form of Shino Aburame, had started to seriously worry some people.

So much so that ANBU had been sent to gather information about him for a few weeks. When it was reported that he seemed to do what he was supposed to, which is to say, study, train and hang out with his friends, the patrol was removed.

Now, just some weeks ago, he had defeated the last scion of the Uchiha clan. Granted, it had been more cunning and luck than actual strength and technique, but he did it nonetheless. And right after that he approached none other than the Hyuuga heiress. I could only shake my head at the boy. He must have some kind of death wish. It was like he was pushing for people to notice him, which in a world like ours meant nothing but troublesome things.

He probably didn't know it, his strategical knowledge wasn't that good if his matches against Shikamaru were anything to go by, but his actions were actually protecting him. A slip and he would be death faster than he can say 'shinobi'. But as it was, his actions kept him on the radar of a lot of people, the Aburame, the Akimichi, us and even the Hokage. Like that it was more difficult for say, Danzo, to get his hands on him for his apparent bloodline limit or talent. Nobody could approach him without someone else noticing.

I finally arrived to my home and started getting ready for a nap before dinner.

"Welcome home." Came the voice of my wife from inside the kitchen.

"I'm back." I replied while already planning to go straight to sleep. That's when I distantly heard the voices of the boys.

"Welcome back, Nara-sama." Said the voice of the one that had given me extra work. Just my luck, that nap had sounded like such a good plan.

"Hi, dad." Was the lazy greeting of my son.

"Hello, boys, how are you doing?" I asked and kept an ear up for any detail I could get.

"As always, really." The Satou answered confirming that my son remained the better one of the two. He didn't even sound disappointed or frustrated. He was a strange one like that.

"You should study more strategy and Shogi instead of looking for more training." My son advised and I stopped on my tracks. "Honestly, you just reduced your Taijutsu training to add Senbon training and possibly chakra control."

I frowned. Adding Senbon wasn't a usual decision made by Academy students, or even most Genin and Chuunin. They required too much skill to be used properly after all. And getting to that level of skill would see that the person trying to achieve it spent most of their time on that alone. It was a dangerous decision to make. But maybe the boy just wanted something to do as the reports said his skill on Shurikenjutsu was perfect, at least with Kunai and Shuriken.

"Why, are you getting tired of winnin alreadyg? Just play against your dad." The Satou suggested with an amused tone.

"No, I just get tired just by knowing your training schedule. Why do you even try so hard? You are already top of the class. One would think you would relax a little. But you want to train even more." That was an interesting question and as such it brought silence as the other boy seemed to take a moment to consider it.

"You are smart, Shikamaru." The red-eyed boy pointed out making my son snort and almost achieving the same with me.

"So…" Shikamaru urged with a bored tone.

"You won't fall for it if I say it's for the Will of Fire, will you?" The Satou asked before chuckling weakly to himself. I would be disappointed if Shikamaru did. My son seemed to have given some kind of response because the boy then continued. "It is actually true." I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Or… partially, at least."

"How so?" Shikamaru asked with the same suspicion in his voice that I was feeling.

"It's good that we are playing Shogi." The boy said out of the blue, almost catching me off guard. "It helps me explain this. Shika, would you say that there's a King in real life?" He asked and I froze were I was standing, right outside the room they were playing in. It had become somewhat of a habit to stop from time to time to listen in. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Yoshino was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, listening too.

That had been an… interesting thing to say.

"The Hokage." My son answered instantly without thinking. I wanted to sigh at that. He didn't get it yet. He was too young.

"I don't believe so." The Saatou said instantly and I gave my full focus back to the conversation. "The Hokage fights like everyone else, which means that the King is someone or something else." Maybe the kid was smarter than I thought.

"And what would that be?"

"It depends on the person, I think." Satou said and the rustle of clothes told me he shrugged. "What would you fight for if someone attacked Konoha right now?" He asked before scoffing, probably at my son. "Don't look at me like that. There have been three world shinobi wars over the last six generations, Shika."

I was actually impressed, even Shikamaru with his prodigious mind even for a Nara, was still naïve enough to overlook the dangers of the world we lived in. But it was probable that being an orphan gave the boy some insight on the darker side of things.

"Maybe there won't be a war. Maybe we'll be lucky." The boy continued. "But we still will eventually go out there, probably with a team, in missions that _will_ be dangerous. I don't want it to be my fault when a team member dies. I don't want it to be my fault if someone I know is killed or worse." I noticed that he said when and not if at first, he really had his eyes open to the truth, apparently. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

Time passed, but neither the boys nor Yoshino nor me showed signs of moving, the only sound in the house was that of the pieces on the Shogi board being moved occasionally. I moved to the kitchen in order to stand beside my wife as I considered the boy that was currently playing against my son. The silence was eventually broken though. And what was said brought a beaming smile to my wife's face and swell of pride inside me.

"Ne, Eiji… Are you up for a spar?"

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Let's all take a moment of our time to think about how shitty writer's block is… Ok? Ok.

Well, a lot of progress was made in this chapter. But it's also because a lot of things overlapped. Don't worry, lovers of balance, this still won't turn into an OP character fic, not if I can help it.

What do you think about Eiji being **top of the class**? Did I make it happen too soon? I have that feeling but I don't know what I could have done to delay it without forcing it.

I know nobody is excited for the Senbon training so I'll jump to the **chakra training**. Honestly, I'm just relieved that I won't have people asking about chakra and jutsu every chapter. I couldn't help but picture Naruto shouting 'I want flashy jutsu!' every time someone put something about that in a review.

Now, onto the shitty stuff, **Shikaku **_**fucking**_** Nara**. I apologize to anyone that, like me, thinks my portrayal is shit. Honestly, I'm just unable to write the Nara's right. I dread the day that I set myself to write Shikamaru.

And lastly, several people have reviewed that my chapters are short. Get used to it. My goal in word count is around 5k words per chapter, more than that is a special case where I just couldn't stop writing because there wasn't a good place to cut it.

**See you.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 8**

Two days after my chat with Iruka-sensei, I added Senbon to my Shurikenjutsu practice. It didn't go too well, but it wasn't horrible, probably due to the level of the skill. That didn't make throwing them any less uncomfortable. They were completely different to kunai and shuriken, which were the things I was used to. So, the first couple of classes the skill didn't really go up at all. Once I got the gist of it though, it skyrocketed to this:

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a shuriken by 100%.**

**Increases accuracy against**** a moving target with a shuriken by 20%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a kunai by 100%.**

**Increases accuracy against**** a moving target with a kunai by 20%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 7**

**Increases accuracy against**** a stationary target with a senbon by 70%.]**

It leveled a _lot_ faster than its counterparts had, which surprised me quite a bit at first. It didn't take me long to formulate a decent theory about the reason though. My best guess was that its fast development was due to a combination of my improved Dexterity stat and me already having a decent accuracy with other Shurikenjutsu weapons.

Sadly, as showed, the other skills didn't go up much or at all. I guessed they would stay the same until we started practicing with moving targets, which Iruka had confirmed would happen after the first half of the academic year. That meant those skills would stay the same for a month and a half. It didn't bother me too much, I had enough skills to deal with as it was.

An interesting development was that there were a couple of people that followed me into taking Senbon too. Those were, Sasuke, Ino and much to the surprise of everybody, Shikamaru. Everybody but me, that is. After our little chat while playing Shogi, my Nara friend had started training more. He wasn't a hard worker by any means, we wouldn't get rid of his lazy nature anytime soon, it seemed. But he did start joining our spars more often. He had also started working a lot on his Shurikenjutsu, a lot for someone like him at least. I was just happy he was taking his training more seriously.

His newfound motivation didn't go unnoticed by our other friends for long. The reactions had been varied but ultimately, all of them had ended confused. Confused by his explanation that is. 'I'll train for the sake of my unremarkable life' he had said. Nobody besides me got his meaning but they stopped asking after a while.

However, it did have one more consequence, and that was that it motivated everyone to train harder. Naruto and Chouji started to spar almost all the time while we stayed in any of the two clan compounds. Shino even started hanging out with us more and he joined Shikamaru and me in our extra Shurikenjutsu training.

One more change to my everyday routine was the addition Free Running. Once I took a look at it, it had instantly replaced Running as favorite skill.

**[Free Running (Active) – Lvl 1**

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 5%**

**When used increases the strength of the user while jumping by 5%**

**When used increases the strength of the user while maneuvering by 5%**

**Consumption – 20 Energy Points per second]**

It was a beautiful sight. As I found out with time, it escalated a little slower than Running as it was only 5% every level, but I guessed it would ultimately be the same if it didn't stop at level 10 like its predecessor had. It was also more expensive, but its cost dropped by one Point every two levels apparently, which meant that the cost would ultimately be 10 if it stopped at level 20. Those were good numbers in my opinion. It was more expensive, but it offered much more than Running did. It was worth it for me.

Also, free running was so much more fun than simple running. It quickly became my favorite hobby as of that moment. I couldn't wait for the buffs to be maxed and start jumping from building to building like those parkour videos I had seeing in my previous life. That would be just plain awesome. For now though, I just trained the skill without activating it to save Energy while on my way to the Academy and actively while on my free time after classes.

On a completely unrelated note, I had finally gotten Shikamaru to use his thinking posture while playing. At the moment, I didn't know if I should feel proud or dejected. That match hadn't lasted long after that, after all. Ultimately, I just decided to be proud. Shikamaru had been in an unusually good mood after that, so I took it as a 'win'.

This were all the changes that my routine suffered during my fifth month in the Naruto World. Which isn't to say that those were the only things of notice. Oh, no. A lot more happened, and when I say a lot, I mean a _lot_.

**[}-o-{]**

"Satou." The sound of the voice alone was enough to silence the whole classroom right when everyone was preparing themselves to leave for the day. After all, it wasn't very often that we heard the last Uchiha talking, much less calling out to someone. My red eyes moved through the room until they fell on the dark-haired boy.

"Uchiha?" I asked in the same tone he had talked. I got it, he suffered and suffers a lot. But his broodiness was just a bit too much. It bothered me, even if I understood.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked, almost politely.

"Want us to wait for you, Eiji?" Shino asked. We had been preparing ourselves for our daily Stealth practice after all.

"Go ahead, guys. I'll meet you at Chouji's house." They gave several replies and goodbyes before leaving the room. The rest of the class stayed there, probably to gossip about whatever Sasuke wanted to talk about. I groaned. "Better a change of scenery, don't you think?" I asked him and he nodded with an annoyed scowl. For once, I didn't reproach his expression internally.

After that, he left the room and I followed while rolling my eyes. He just left expecting me to go behind him. I couldn't wait to beat him for real in a spar. Maybe that would shake him out of his avenger thoughts. Some classmates even had the audacity to follow us and he groaned again as he guided me to the Uchiha compound. It was pretty far actually, must have been a pain for him to do the trip every day.

Looking around, it gave a new perspective to the survivor's constant mood. I would be like that if I lived alone in such a big place. He probably was reminded of a lot of memories just by being there too. If we ever got close, the first thing I would do would be to get him out of the place. It was a constant source of pain for the last Uchiha, that was for sure.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked as we entered his house and sat in a table. He didn't offer anything, but at this point I was beyond expecting any kindness or politeness from him.

"How did you get so strong?" He asked bluntly and I resisted the urge to sigh. I was prepared for this chat. I truly was. But I just hoped he would be better than that.

"Training." I replied simply and he scowled at me.

"I train too. Every free hour I have is spent training. That can't be the only thing." He countered and I contemplated the idea of evading his question and just getting out. However, he would probably continue asking if I didn't answer.

"Well, that can be one reason. Training all the time will end up hindering your growth instead of the opposite. You need rest too. Your diet can be another factor." I explained and his scowl slowly disappeared giving place to a thoughtful expression.

"Anything else?" He asked, his tone much more inviting than before. I looked at him for a moment considering my next words. This could change his life or it could push him even more down his hate filled hole.

"Besides what I said. Is there any difference you see between the two of us?" I asked unsure and he stared at me in confusion before speaking.

"We have different pasts. We both are orphans but… there are big differences still." He said, his whole body-language screamed guarded. I suppressed a sigh. Of course, he would say something like that. It's why Naruto's attempt to relate hadn't worked in canon. That's why I wasn't going for that argument.

"I meant in a more recent manner." I clarified and he took another moment to think.

"You mean… the others?" Bingo, I thought to myself while suppressing a smile.

"Yeah. I won't tell you that friendship gave me power or something like that." I explained quickly as I saw him scowl again. "But they help a lot in my training. We train together in Shurikenjutsu, usually pointing the other's mistakes and helping correcting them. We also spar together to practice Taijutsu, doing the kata exercises is all well and good but actual spars help a lot too. We also do stealth practice after school almost every day." I told him, trying and possibly failing to contain my excitement. If I got Sasuke to be part of the group we could save him from leaving, giving him a much deeper connection than what he had with Naruto in canon.

"Hn." Oh, there was the grunt. I was wondering if the fanfics had been exaggerating. "I see." He added as if to translate his previous grunt and then stood up. I guessed that was all. After this, I could only hope my words would be enough. I had done what I could. Maybe an actual beating would help?

"Well, if that was all." I said standing up myself and following him back to the entrance. "See you tomorrow."

"See you." He said curtly before he seemed to hesitate for a second. "Thank you." And then he closed the door. I smiled to myself. That wasn't fantastic, but I thought it went pretty well, if I do say so myself.

**[}-o-{]**

"Honestly, I don't know why you bothered answering his questions. He just wants to beat you, believe it." Said an annoyed Naruto while I just rolled my eyes.

"So? I don't care. And even if I did, it'll just mean that I have one more person to challenge me." I said dismissively getting a groan out of Shikamaru.

"Why do you have to make things so troublesome for yourself. It doesn't even involve me and it still bothers me." He said while lying on the ground.

"Can you stop looking for excuses to stop doing your exercises?" I asked amused and he groaned again.

"Why do you have to always ruin it?" He complained while starting with his sit-ups again.

"All for your unremarkable life, isn't it?" I shot back and he groaned but stayed silent this time.

"Someday you'll have to tell us what the hell is that all about." Naruto said getting a firm nod from Chouji.

"You'll understand when you are older." I replied and instantly ignored their 'Oi!' cry and Shikamaru's snort. It became even easier as something called for my attention.

**[Constitution has gone up a level.]**

**[New Perk Acquired: Autodidact.]**

**[Autodidact**

**Improves the rate at which the user's stats and skills improve when training without a teacher by 10%]**

'_Cool. Wait… why the hell did I get _this _Perk while in class? … It has something to do with the Constitution point but… Status.'_

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 400/400**

**Chakra Points: 180/180**

**Strength: 18**

**Dexterity: 18**

**Constitution: 20**

**Chakra: 18**

**Chakra control: E]**

'_Something to do with getting to 20 points in Constitution? No, the specific stat wouldn't make sense. Just the number 20? But then… Why 20? And why during class?'_ I couldn't quite make sense of it no matter how much I tried until in the end, I decided to just give up. _'Doesn't matter. I won't complain because of a free Perk.'_ I thought while internally shrugging. It was a great Perk too, so, I counted that as a win either way. Especially now that my progress had slowed down a lot both in stats and skills.

I just had to look at Strength and Dexterity. Despite Physical Conditioning's incredible buff, the latter still had caught up to the former. Still, I was sure Strength would go up any moment but it was still concerning. After the 20s it would be a pain to level my stats, I just knew it.

'_Maybe I'll have to look up the price for some weights.' _I grimaced at the very thought. I didn't exactly have much money saved. I wouldn't blame having to feed Naruto for that though, he paid for his own food after all. No, the problem was that all my training had me eating like a shounen main character. Not to mention that I had to save money to equip myself once I graduated from the Academy. And considering that Bukijutsu was one of the classes I was considering taking, whatever weapon I chose to train with would have to be bought too. I sighed. _'I might need to get a job.'_

And with that thought, I spent the rest of the classes thinking about what to do. I could probably get a job at Ichiraku's with my Cooking maxed, but I probably wouldn't win much there. Poor Naruto wasn't doing the place any favors by promoting it, not that anyone could blame that on him. However, there were other places where I could apply that skill for work.

Or there was the fanfic normal route of applying at Higurashi's. Although, I wasn't sure I would gain much considering that I didn't have skills to apply there. And I didn't think they would employ me for much if I didn't know anything related to the job. An apprenticeship would be cool, yes, but it also would be time consuming. The job by itself would set me back by a lot, if I also had to train for it outside of there… No, it was better to do something I was already prepared for. A restaurant would do just fine.

"Eiji, can you stay for a moment after classes?" Iruka called out as everyone was readying to leave.

"Can you guys wait for me? I really don't want to lose another day and sensei shouldn't take too much time with whatever this is about." I asked my group of friends. They nodded without a thought and left the room. I meant my words thought, I really didn't feel like missing another day of training with them. After my little chat with Sasuke the day before, I had to go directly to my apartment. His compound was almost on the other side of the village, so between the walk there, the time spent with our conversation and the way back, half my free time had been wasted. "You wanted to talk to me sensei?"

"Yes." He nodded looking over his papers before looking at me from across the desk. "This is about what you talked with me the other day." My eyes widened. _'My chakra training?'_ "I've been given permission to start training you in chakra control exercises, IF…!" He added quickly as I was about to do a most definitely lame victory dance. I looked back at him instantly. "_if_ you maintain your current level in all the exercises and _only_ after the mid-year exams. If you pass them in the first place, I'll start your chakra training but _only_ in chakra control."

I stared at him with one of my biggest grins yet. What did it matter if it was only chakra control? It would be a huge help to me if I decided to take a chakra-based elective the next year. Just getting one or two levels over the others would reduce the hit my standing in the class would suffer once we started using chakra. It was enough for me.

"One more thing." My full attention was once again turned to the scarred teacher. "You will only train chakra control, as I said. I don't want to be even partly responsible for your death because you tried to do something stupid like strengthening your muscles and ended up blowing them up." I resisted the urge to gulp. That had been an idea, I thought sheepishly. Iruka seemed to see right through me though, and gave me a disappointed shake of his head before continuing. "Keep yourself only on chakra control exercises and if you get far enough and maintain your place at the top of the class…" He made a dramatic pause with a smirk as I hung on the edge of my seat. "and you will be allowed a third elective."

Now, most of my class would think that was a punishment. I mean, more classes? Who wanted more classes? Well… me, as a matter of fact. My friends were already calling me a training maniac, and I would gladly receive that title if it got me closer to dealing with all the shit that would come with a few less deaths and a little less suffering. This wasn't about me surviving anymore, it was about all of us surviving.

"Yes." I all but shouted as I looked intently at his eyes. "I'll do it. I won't disappoint you, Iruka-sensei. I'll be Rookie of the Year, just you wait." I said with confidence. I was already pretty confident before, but with this? It was almost a fact. Not that I would let that slow my training. No, the thought of Madara and Kaguya was enough to instantly vanish any _over_confidence I could have had.

"I'll be waiting." He replied with a warm smile.

"See you, sensei. I have to start preparing."

**[}-o-{]**

**Ino POV**

"Do we have to have dinner with them? We just met at the Akimichi compound last week." I complained making an effort not to sound whiny. I really didn't need to deal with my father telling me that I was adorable while doing so. It was so embarrassing mum had started using that as a threat, an effective one at that.

"Yes, we have to. They are family friends and clan allies." Mum shut down any little hope I could have had instantly and I had to resist the urge to groan.

I understood, I really did. But meeting the Akimichi head family and the Nara head family was something that we did _every single week._ Furthermore, while Shikamaru and Chouji weren't the worst people to hang around, there was only so much laziness and gluttony that I could put up with. What was worse, now they regularly hung out with Naruto and Shino. The former being almost as bad as Chouji when regarding food, not to mention his obnoxious personality and his hideous outfit. And then there was the Aburame, who was just plain creepy.

The only remotely normal person on the group was Eiji. Be I had my own problem in regards to the Satou. He had been in my mind more than I would like to admit out loud, or at all. But ever since he had beaten Kiba on the lap runs, his presence had been intriguing to say the least. It had been a good change to be honest, having someone break the semblance of normalcy that had formed the previous year.

There hadn't been surprises at all back then. The clan heirs had been at the top, Sasuke had been the top of the top. Shikamaru was lazy. Chouji liked to eat. You could barely know Shino was there. Sakura blinded you with the shine of her massive forehead. Hinata was so shy you barely remembered her normal voice. Kiba and Naruto were a complete headache. And there was me, being just plain awesome.

But then the new year started. A kid came out of nowhere and challenged the established system and one couldn't help but wonder, what would he do next to break our perception of normalcy? Because he seemed to take it as a life mission to destroy anything you thought was a fact.

He caught up with the fastest of the class and eventually surpassed them. He took the first place of the Taijutsu spars. He was the very first to get an absolutely perfect round in Shurikenjutsu practice and take up Senbon training. What the hell would he do now that he didn't have any more of things to take over in class?

And it wasn't even that he only surprised during class. Oh, no, there was much more. Like being the first to befriend Naruto. It took a special kind of patience to put up with the boy after all. Then he went and befriended Shikamaru and Chouji. And he got _Chouji_ to _fight_. It blew my mind. How had he managed to make that gentle soul throw punches?

But that wasn't all, no. The thing that had made me give up logic wasn't even the fact that he beat Sasuke (however underhanded) in a spar. No, it was that he made _Shikamaru_ get up from his stupid Shogi board and freaking _train_. It was like he was taking the rules of the world and throwing them out the window!

At some point it had gone from interesting to annoying. It gave me the feeling that the world around me was being torn apart.

"We are here, Ino-chan." My father broke me from my thoughts and I my shoulders sagged in defeat. I would have to put up with the weirdo group once again it would seem. It had become somewhat normal to do so. Sometimes Naruto wouldn't be there, or maybe Eiji. But there was almost always at least one of them. Nowadays, Shino would be there too from time to time.

"Aaargh! That posture has to be a cheat of some kind. It just _has_ to be!" I heard a voice complain and I rolled my eyes. Even _I_ knew this argument was old.

"Just give up, Eiji. Us, lesser ones, must just accept the stupidly overpowered mind of the Naras." Said the Akimichi Clan Head in a joking voice.

"I refuse. I'll beat you. It'll happen, mark my words." The red-eyed boy replied with confidence and I snorted. Nobody could beat a Nara in Shogi. It just didn't happen. And then I froze. _'I just jinxed it, didn't I?'_

"Ino-chan!" Greeted animatedly my only fellow blonde in class, Naruto. I forced a polite smile and greeted back, I didn't feel like putting up with my parents after the meeting, again.

"Hello, Naruto. How have you been?" Never mind that we had left the same classroom not more than a few hours ago. I just had to ask for politeness sake or I would get a scolding from mum.

"We've been great. Chouji and I just decided to take a break from our spars. And Eiji and Shikamaru… well, you know how it goes." And I couldn't help but nod in agreement. It was rare to see those two together without them playing against each other. Although, now that Shikamaru trained from time to time, they could also be found doing that. The mere thought still felt strange.

"I wonder when he'll give up." I mused, mostly to myself.

"He won't." The knucklehead answered instantly.

"He will, nobody beats a Nara in Shogi." I countered instantly.

"I bet you would have said the same thing about Sasuke-teme in a Taijutsu spar." He shot back and I had to bit my tongue in order not to lash out. Everybody knew that Naruto and Sasuke didn't get along. Everybody also knew that the blonde took great pleasure in bragging about his friend's victory over the last Uchiha. Although, I had never seeing the actual miracle-maker do any bragging, it was strange.

"It was a cheap trick." I said trying to make the statement sound as strong as I could. It was in vain though. I knew that wasn't a good excuse. Ninja didn't fight fair, no matter how much Forehead wanted to believe they did. Honestly, she was too smart to believe shit like that. Apparently though, I was wrong.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." I felt my eyebrow twitching.

"You could at least brag about something _you_ did instead of what others do." I said this time and it was his turn to twitch. _'Ha, take that you fashion disaster.'_

"Naruto, we are guests here. And it's the meeting of the three Clan head families. We shouldn't even _be_ here. Play nice." Eiji chided from where he sat, facing away, just as Naruto was about to reply something. Huh, they really knew each other well. The blonde slumped as he turned towards his friends.

"Ok ok, I won that argument though." I felt myself getting annoyed once more before taking a deep breath to keep myself from lashing out. My mum was sure to be staring a hole through the back of my head right that moment.

"And honestly, do you _want_ to get into an argument with her?" Eiji asked with an amused expression and I went still. "Have you seen her 'chats' with Sakura? We would be here all night." He finished while chuckling and getting a snort from all the others as Naruto mock shivered.

"Thanks for that, Eiji. You saved me."

"Anytime, Godaime." He said mock beaming at his friend. This time it took several deep breaths to calm myself down as I sat at the table with the rest of the adults. Most of them watching intently at the Shogi match going on between the two boys as the rest of the little group talked between themselves around the board. Soon enough, the Satou was defeated once again and groaned. "Someday." He grumbled to himself.

"Never happening." I couldn't help but say.

"Ino." My mother called out with a chiding tone and I stopped myself from shrugging.

"Doesn't matter, I'll just prove her wrong, as I did when I beat Sasuke at everything." I hated the raven-haired boy's good-naturedly tone as he spoke, shooting a reassuring smile at my mother. I hated the way the clanless orphan had come to speak so freely with clan heads. And they loved it. How many logic rules would he break?

All the chatting stopped though, when we heard a knock on the door. Yoshino stood up excusing herself and walked towards the entrance to see who it was. As the door opened the temperature of the room seemed to drop dramatically as an ANBU was spotted just out the doorstep.

"Did something happen?" It was shocking contrast, to see Shikaku Nara go from a lazy old version of Shikamaru to someone that made your back straighten with just three words. I didn't even notice that the Nara Clan Head had moved until I saw him standing right beside his wife.

"I'm here for Uzumaki-san." All eyes turned to Naruto as his face showed both nervousness and fear.

"W-What happened?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"There was an attack to your apartment." The ANBU replied. "If you would follow me. I have orders from the Hokage to take you there in order for you to look for things that may have survived the attack and then take you to him."

"Can I go too?" This time the attention turned to a red-eyed raven-haired boy. I felt my breath caught up in my throat. I had seen Eiji annoyed, he was pretty much every time Kiba opened his mouth. I had seen him determined every time he participated in any activity at the Academy. I had even seen him angry, whenever Kiba said something about Naruto or any of his friends.

This Eiji though, I had never seen. His words were polite and unassuming. His tone though… My eyes couldn't help but travel towards Shikaku, who was eyeing the boy with an unreadable expression.

However, his voice was one of the least important things to notice. Not even his impassive and cold expression that clashed spectacularly with his normally easy-going attitude. No, the most shocking thing that I saw in him at that moment were his eyes. I had never noticed how much his eyes resembled the color of blood.

"I was tasked with taking just Uzumaki-san with me." The ANBU replied as if not noticing the boy's demeanor or not caring about it.

"Can… can he come with me?" Naruto asked his voice lazed with something that I couldn't place as his expression turned to one, I had never seen in him, dejection.

"Take the boy too." Shikaku told the ANBU who instantly nodded.

"Yes, Nara-sama. If you would." And then the ninja extended both arms towards the boys who took them without hesitation and then they vanished. Not before I could take another look at Eiji's eyes and felt a chill run down my spine.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Oh, boy. I'm nervous about how this chapter will be received. There a several things here that is important I got right. I hope I did.

I sped up this release a bit because you guys are fucking amazing. I mean **1000 Follow**? It blew my mind. Some may have noticed from some of my note words, but I don't have the best self-confidence. It has been amazing to see this fic skyrocket as it did. Especially review-wise, I mean, last chapter had **56 reviews** so far. You are awesome, people. You really are.

Anyway, enough of that. I know people thought and wanted the **Chakra Training** to start this chapter. But don't worry, it'll start next chapter unless what I have planned takes longer than I think. In which case, we'll deal with what I introduced at the end of this chapter and the mid-year exams before we go into chakra training. Although, it's just chakra control, I don't think there's much to hype about that.

Now, about the **chat with Sasuke**. I have some doubts about this. But I just want to reassure the people that no doubt think he'll join the group next chapter and be all friendly with everyone. No, I am a strong believe of slowly build relationships of any kind. Especially with personalities as strong as Sasuke's is.

As for **Ino's POV**. Well… I'm a bit nervous, especially because it's the first female POV I've done in this fic and being a _male_ myself, I may have screwed something up. It isn't a secret that we men don't understand the fairer sex. So, if I somehow messed it up and some female follower is triggered, I ask you to send me a PM or leave a review and I'll see about fixing it.

Some people may be curious about **Autodidact** being obtained during class. I'll explain. The requirement for the Perk was to reach level 20 in a stat before last year of the Academy. Why? Because the 20s is the peak of an Academy student, so reaching it requires a lot of training out of the school.

**Random Question: **Can you guess where I'll have Eiji work? Should be easy enough.

**See you.**

**PS:** I wonder when someone'll notice where the Perk names come from. Although, this note alone should have you all knowing in just a Google search.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 9**

"Damnit!" My fist impacted with the scratched wall. Naruto's apartment laid in front of me looking like a tornado had passed right through it. There was nothing left unscathed. Everything was either broken or torn to pieces. Graffities covered the walls slandering my blond friend.

And I had to watch it. I had to watch the damage and my first friend going through the remains in search of something, anything that could be salvaged.

"It's safe!" The owner of the thrashed apartment shouted excited as he lifted something from in between some broken pieces of wood that could have been a shelf. It was a bowl of ramen. Even through my anger and sadness, that sight brought a tiny smile to my face.

"I know you like ramen, Naruto. But you should check your priorities." I commented in a tired voice. The ANBU remained silent just out the door.

"It's not that." Replied a sheepish Naruto as he held the bowl in an embrace. "It's… It's the bowl where you put the first batch of ramen you prepared for me." He explained looking at the trash covered floor and I could help but stare at him as a simple thought took place firmly inside my mind: _'Whoever did this better pray I don't find them.'_

"Is there something else?" I asked trying to keep my voice as normal as was possible with an emotive lump on my throat. When he went back to searching, I turned towards the ANBU. "Is there a suspect for… this?" I asked evenly.

The ninja regarded me in silence for a long time, as if deciding if he should even bother answering my question. I understood. I was a nobody, a clanless orphan. The only thing distancing myself from a beggar was my place in the Academy as a student, but that made little difference, really.

"It's been investigated." He said after a while and I was just surprised he answered at all. Still, I nodded in acknowledgement. I prayed to every god I knew that the culprit would suffer.

"I'm done." I turned towards Naruto. He had the bowl and his toad-shaped wallet. That was it. I felt my blood boiling once more but I controlled myself. I needed to be here for Naruto now.

The ANBU placed his hands on our shoulders and I braced myself. In other circumstances, I would crack a joke or simply complain like the child I was about how awful side-along shunshin apparently was. It felt like being in a super powered rollercoaster. As it was though, I kept my mouth shut because I knew that if talked too much I would start ranting about the injustice of the stupid village.

A moment later, the three of us stood inside the Hokage office. There didn't seem to be anyone else inside, although I was sure there were ANBU guards somewhere. The village leader looked entirely unaffected by the events of the night and I was just about to tell him something about it when I froze. His eyes told me a different story. He was just as angry as I was. Good.

"Was that everything you could get, Naruto?" He asked, his tone was completely neutral. The blond boy beside me nodded weakly looking down. With a nod of his own, the Hokage dismissed the ANBU, who instantly vanished. "You could have left the bowl there. I'll provide you with new things in regards to that." He said turning back to us.

"It's important." Naruto said while shaking his head. When he didn't explain further before the elder man spoke again.

"I see." And after that silence permeated the room for long minutes before he proceeded: "I'll provide you with a new place to stay, Naruto. Is there anything you would like in your new home?" He asked and if he was of the same mind as me, he would provide just about anything that Naruto asked.

I let out a small smile. As shitty the whole situation was, I was happy for Naruto. He often complained about our apartments. They were really small. They didn't have any outside space aside from the tiny balcony. The kitchens sucked. There was barely space to keep our things.

So, I waited to hear what he would ask for. Maybe a house, with a big backyard so that we could hang out there too, aside from the others' compounds. Maybe a library that he would ask to be filled with awesome jutsu scrolls. Oh, I knew, he would surely ask for-

"I want enough space for Eiji to live with me." My mind went blank as my brain rebooted. Whatever I expected him to ask, that wasn't it. I turned towards him but he kept his eyes firmly locked on the Hokage's.

"Surely you know that your friend will be ok, Naruto." The leader replied. "You can ask for other things and have him visit you. He'll be ok." He explained.

"It doesn't matter." Naruto continued stubbornly before his expression softened. "I can't. I just can't go and live in a fancy place while he stays in those crappy apartments by himself." While he spoke, I struggled with my own emotions. Apparently, they didn't know if I should cry or smile at my friend's speech. "You know… This bowl…" He put it up for the Hokage to get a better look. "It's where he put the first batch of ramen that he made for me. He… He…" His expression and his voice denoted the struggle he was going through.

"Naruto, I don't think making a ramen for you accounts for-"

"He made food for me…" The blond interrupted getting a raised eyebrow from the Hokage. It hurt me just to hear him. His voice never should be so low and sad. It just wasn't him. "He made food for me when no one but Ichiraku's would sell it to me. I gave him my money and he made food for me, every time I asked."

It should be a testament to how much the leader of the village cared for Naruto that I saw his calm mask crack at that moment. It was almost unnoticeable but I saw his eyes harden and his jaw clench in suppressed anger for just a moment. Not to mention that the room's temperature seemed to drop a little. I gulped and continued looking between the two of them. I had no place in this conversation.

"What do you mean 'no one would sell it to you'?" The Hokage asked, his tone hiding everything that I had noticed.

"No restaurant would sell me food. The stores that _would_ sell me ingredients would do so with really high prices." Naruto explained, his voice barely a whisper. There was a long pause after that in which Naruto stubbornly looked at the floor, the Hokage kept a stony expression and I… I didn't know quite what to do.

I had met the Hokage a few times when he decided to visit Naruto. But they went mostly by themselves and if I was there, I just stayed silent while they talked. It was clear to anyone that looked that the leader of Konoha saw Naruto as a grandchild of sorts. But I was just another Academy student.

"I see…" Was the response of the Sandaime and after those two words silence made its presence known once more as no one knew quite what to say or do.

"So… Can I?" Naruto asked, his voice regaining a bit of his former confidence. "Can I have a place where the two of us can live together?" Slowly, his tone raised and I grew worried of the Hokage's reaction. "I don't want to live in a fancy place while he stays in those shitty apartments. He's a friend, believe it."

"… You can." Was his answer after a moment of consideration and I could help but bow my head in appreciation. "I'll arrange for a place for you two. For now, Naruto, could you leave me alone with Eiji for a minute? I have something to discuss with him." I gulped as Naruto looked between us a few times before slowly leaving the room. Not a moment had passed before I felt my own body grow heavy just by having the full attention of the man who held the title of Shinobi no Kami. He could wipe me from existence with a mere twitch, I was sure.

"Is there anything else Naruto hasn't told me about the treatment he receives from the village?" The Hokage asked with his eyes boring holes on my skull. I gulped again before speaking.

"I… I don't know." When I saw the hint of a frown on his expression, I quickly started talking again. "When we walk on the streets people glare, scowl, some even curse at him. More often than not with the word demon mentioned at least once. As he told you, there aren't many that would sell him food. I suspect that there aren't many that would sell him anything, for that matter." I racked my brain searching for anything else to say before sighing. "I don't know much more. We've stayed within our group of friends." I said in the end while looking at my feet.

"You've been a good friend to Naruto." He mused after a long moment, although it seemed to be mostly for himself than for me so I stayed silent. "You don't have to be so nervous around me. I am grateful that you were there for him while I wasn't. I sometimes forget that the title of Hokage or Shinobi no Kami doesn't automatically mean that I know everything that goes on inside the village." I took a deep breath in to try and calm myself.

"If…" I couldn't help but hesitate before speaking. Speaking freely to authority figures was Naruto's thing. He was the main protagonist and he also had his Talk Jutsu. I didn't have either of those. Angering any of those could and most probably would end with my death. "If we live together, I may start getting the same treatment. There aren't many that have done so until now, but it may become a real concern."

"So, you decline his offer?" The Hokage asked, his tone and expression unreadable.

"No-Not really." I said quickly while fidgeting with my fingers. "It's just… we'll need help if that happens." I said while gulping once more. The damn lump on my throat refused to go down.

"I see… That's a reasonable fear." He said while humming and looking out the window for some long seconds. I idly realized that this was probably the most we had talked to one another. "I'll have someone restock your kitchen of everything you may need regularly." He explained after a moment. "For everything else that you aren't able to procure yourself due to this, I urge you to ask a teacher at the Academy or anyone with Jounin rank for assistance." He advised and I quickly nodded.

"Of course, thank you, Hokage-sama." I said respectfully bowing my head. That was a great reassurance for me. I had been growing worried ever since the first shop tried to overprice me.

"As I said, you can relax in my presence, Eiji." He said, this time his impassive face gave place to a reassuring smile. At that moment, I decided to do something exceedingly stupid. But what can I say? Naruto and his friendship speeches must have gotten to me.

"I… Would it be too much… If I asked why?" I asked nervously and he raised an eyebrow. "Why Naruto is treated the way he is?" I forced myself to say. Internally, I kept repeating to myself that it was a completely reasonable question. Not that it helped my growing fear as a frown threatened to appear in the Hokage's face.

"…" In the end, he sighed before once more looking out the window deep in thought. "What if I said that the Kyuubi didn't die in the battle with the Yondaime?" He asked and I didn't have to fake my surprise. I was shocked that he would actually answer and with the truth.

"… Hokage-sama?" I asked, my voice merely a whisper.

"You see, killing a creature made entirely out of chakra isn't an easy feat, if possible, at all." He continued. His gaze firmly set on the village's landscape that could be seen from his office. "So, the Yondaime chose the next best option. To seal it. Have you learned anything about seals in class?" He asked, as if asking about the weather and I took a moment to choke out my answer.

"Some… We've learned mostly about storage and explosive seals. Their uses, that is."

"Much like with a storage seal, he sealed the Kyuubi away. The problem is, sealing a chakra beast inside an inanimate object or an animal isn't an easy feat in normal circumstances, much less in the middle of an attack as was the case back then." He explained. "So, our Yondaime had to seal it inside a person. A baby, to be exact."

"Naruto…" I whispered, my façade was kept intact by the fact that I was genuinely affected by my friends fate. He really didn't deserve any of this shit.

"And from then on, he was seen as nothing but the very beast he contains by most people in this village. Contrary to our Yondaime's wishes of him being considered a hero for imprisoning the Kyuubi." The tale ended and silence reigned the office once more, this time heavier than before. "I'm curious though. What are your thoughts in the matter, Eiji?"

"If you expect me to turn my back on him," I spoke with much more confidence than any other time while in the company of the Hokage. "then you will be severely disappointed." This time, the smile the man gave me looked… different.

"I'm pleased to hear that, truly I am." He said as he hummed in approval. "Sadly, I must ask you to keep this a secret." I stayed silent for a moment, to see if he had something else to say, before answering.

"If I may ask why?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't know if I was pushing boundaries, maybe I had been for the whole conversation.

"I wonder that myself sometimes." He said and for a split second he looked exactly like the very old leader he was, like the man that had survived three world wars while seeing his people die. For the same length of time, I wondered to myself why he was being so open with me. I was just a kid that was friendly with Naruto. Naruto meant a lot to Hiruzen, but this was… strange, at the very least. "As it is, the reveal of this knowledge could make your group have a different reaction than yours." He finished.

"I don't believe that would be the case." I knew we could trust Shika and Chouji, at the very least. I wanted to trust Shino, but he hadn't joined our group until two months ago and he kept mostly to himself for most of that time. "But I'll keep it a secret, Hokage-sama."

"I have lived for long and through a lot, Eiji." He replied. "I know when someone lies to me." I winced and looked away before sighing.

"I… I can't promise that I won't tell them if I feel they _need_ to know." I admitted, preparing myself for whatever he decided to do with me. Maybe a Yamanaka would be called to deal with my memory of the conver-

"Understandable." I was, once again, baffled by the openness he showed.

"Why?" I was able to gasp out and he directed a warm smile towards me before looking to the side.

"You remind me of someone." Turning to follow his eyes, I saw a row of frames in the wall. Frames of the previous Hokage of Konoha. I didn't have to be a Nara to know who he was referring to. _'No pressure.'_ I thought nervously to myself. "I believe your new home arrangements have been taken care of, Eiji. Naruto must be waiting for you to go with him to see it and get settled in."

I nodded slowly, my gaze still locked with the picture of a blond man with blue eyes, much too similar to my friend. I didn't even bother questioning how he had gotten a house so fast and without asking anyone to do it. He was the freaking Hokage, things like this shouldn't be too surprising. I turned my head to the Sandaime and nodded once more, this time with a completely different meaning, gesture that he returned with a small smile. Turning around and leaving the office, I felt much more determined than I ever did.

Despite what many would think, I didn't feel detached from this world even though I had first known about it as a simple entertainment. No, I had lived in it for months, talked to its people, interacted with the village. And I had made friends inside it. I had done the opposite to what one would expect. I had grown attached to it.

So, it was with a great deal of pride that I took the expectations the Sandaime placed on me and held my head high as I stepped outside the room. However, that thought left me pretty quickly as my eyes landed on Naruto. Because growing attached to this world meant something else too. I had grown to care about some of its inhabitants, about my friends.

Someone would have to pay for hurting my friend.

**[}-o-{]**

After another absolutely nauseating trip via Shunshin by another ANBU, Naruto and I stood in front of a small two-story house that looked-

"Cozy." My Jinchuriki friend whispered, almost in awe of the place.

"It does look like that." I said with a small smile. "Let's have a look inside, shall we?" I asked before turning to the ANBU, who already had extended an arm holding the keys to the place.

"Hokage-sama said the taxes would be taken care of until your graduation." She informed us and I nodded while taking the keys and looking them over. Once my eyes went up again, she wasn't there anymore. I resisted the urge to sigh.

"They are awesome, aren't they?" Naruto said while looking at the spot where the ANBU had been standing. He was grinning, but he wasn't fooling me. He was much more subdued than I had ever seeing him. I put a hand on his shoulder and we moved towards the house.

Stepping in, we were received by a small entrance hall. The rest of the ground floor was occupied by a dinning room, a kitchen, a sitting room, a laundry room and a toilet room. The first floor had three bedrooms and a bathroom. Everything was pretty small, but considering that it would be just the two of us and maybe a guest, it was more than enough. Maybe it would be even less, considering that we could turn the third bedroom into a workshop or something. Something to think about.

However, what really had both of us looking around in awe was the garden. There was enough space for a sparing circle, and some mid-range Shurenjutsu.

"Look at all this space!" Naruto laughed madly while spinning as if trying to take in everything at the same time. "Although, we definitely have to put some plants here, it looks so boring." He added, almost pouting and I sighed. _'Make it short-range Shurikenjutsu'_, I thought to myself. Still, I had a smile through the whole tour before I frowned as I looked at the clock.

"We should go to bed. Or we won't wake up on time tomorrow." I reminded Naruto, making him look at me scandalized.

"How can you think about school when we have a new house. _We_ have a new _house._ Do you follow me?" He said looking at me like I had said ramen was the worst kind of food.

"And we have classes tomorrow." I replied while doing my best to keep a straight face. His whole head twitched as if his brain was shaking trying to understand what I was talking about and I wasn't able to hold it anymore. My blond friend could only pout and grumble as I held my stomach in laughter.

"You are so mean sometimes, Eiji." He said crossing his arms and looking away. I wiped a tear from my eye and I put my hand on his head as if he was a child. His pout intensified.

"What do you say about checking if the kitchen has enough to make ramen?" I asked and his expression changed to an eager one instantly. I shook my head as he started running towards the kitchen.

"What kind of question is that?!" He shouted from inside, probably already sitting in the dinning room. I was proven wrong though, as when I was entering the house once more through the garden door, I saw Naruto placing the bowl he had taken from his apartment on a shelf. I stopped on my tracks to look at him.

"You did wash that thing, didn't you?" I asked and he froze before turning to me sweating bullets and scratching the back of his neck. "Go wash it while I cook. I'm not going to touch it." I shook my head as he started washing it, a smile firmly on my face though.

It didn't take long for Naruto's excitement to wash off, probably due to everything that had happened during the day. Even he had his limits sometimes. Soon, I found myself sitting on the dinning room with the distant sound of my friend's snores coming through from the first floor. The only light on in the ground floor was that of the kitchen showering my back and projecting my shadow over the table in front of me.

I sat there, pondering over what had happened and what I would do about it. Because no matter what he acted like, I knew Naruto had been hurt. He had been through a lot, but this kind of thing didn't happen often. At least lately, as I had never seeing it happen during the months I had been here.

Suddenly, my musings were stopped as I saw a blur move in front of me and vanish as quickly as it had appeared. Blinking, I was about to dismiss it as just me being tired but that was proven wrong when I saw a small note, innocently sitting at the end of my shadow over the table.

Hesitantly standing up, I walked around the wooden piece of furniture until I took the piece of paper in my hand. In it were just a few words:

_Kobu Inuzuka_

_What are you going to do?_

**[}-o-{]**

**Third Person PoV**

"You told him." Danzo said, his tone as neutral as his expression.

"I did." Hiruzen nodded, his face and voice mimicking that of what people believed to be one of his greatest enemies.

"You think he won't tell the others?"

"I think he will, when he deems it the right moment to do so."

"And you trust him to choose well?"

"I don't know."

"You don't want to choose."

Silence was everything the war hawk needed as an answer.

"That, and I saw something in him." The Sandaime finally relented.

"You believe him to be his second coming?" The Hokage simply shook his head giving an almost amused smile that didn't reach his eyes. "For a moment I thought you were going senile. It was good while it lasted." Danzo commented. That got a light chuckle from his 'leader'.

"No, not yet." Hiruzen replied still smiling. "He _is_ similar. But it's a bit too soon to tell."

"We'll see soon enough." As these words left the Shimura's mouth, the Sandaime's eyes narrowed.

"Did you do something? Did you have something to do with what happened?"

"Of course not. Although, if I did, do you think I would admit it?"

"So, yes and no, huh?" Now, it was the war hawk's time to chuckle. "What are you trying to do?"

For the longest time, the question went unanswered. Before the last words were said and the Hokage was left alone to ponder in his office.

"I'm trying to follow your example, Hiruzen."

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, I think I'll spare everything of my self-confidence issues for now and not comment on how nervous I am about this chapter.

Wait.

Damnit.

…

Anyhow! Before you leave a review telling me how idiotic it is to have the **Sandaime telling Eiji about the Kyuubi**, I want everyone to take a second to tell me why it should be such a secret? Everyone that matters knows Naruto is the Jinchuriki. The only ones that don't are the younger generation, which isn't so important in my opinion. So, I took a leap and decided to have Hiruzen tell our MC about it.

Honestly, the only reason I found for the secret to exist was because Hiruzen hoped the Law would keep Naruto save… We all know that wasn't the case.

If you still think I'm being an idiot, feel free to tell me. I would like to know your opinion's in the matter. Chances are that I made a stupid decision with this. I wouldn't put it past me.

Writing **Hiruzen** as a whole was a painful thing to do, not to mention writing him interaction with **Danzo** at the end. I hope I didn't mess it up.

**Question Number 1:** What do you think about the pacing of the story?

**Question Number 2:** Can you think about any Energy based skills you would like to see? I'm curious what you people can come up with.

**See you.**

**PS: **I wonder if this will be the chapter where I'll get the flaming of my life and I'll have to rewrite it entirely. It wouldn't surprise me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 10**

The next day's walk towards the Academy was awkward. Not only because it was the first day both, Naruto and I, woke up in our new house but also because of all that had happened the day prior. There was also the fact that we had left the Akimichi's house after being notified of the attack at Naruto's apartment. The others were sure to have at least _some_ questions about the matter.

I, for my part, had another set of thoughts not entirely disconnected with the events of the last night. I looked at my blond friend from the corner of my eye. He didn't know about the note and if I had my way, he wouldn't ever do. The boy had enough in his plate without having to worry about anything else. More than he already was that is.

After stepping inside the classroom, we had a whispered conversation with Chouji and the others as both of us explained what had happened. Obviously, I omitted the Kyuubi secret, for now at least. The Akimichi heir decided that he would stay right besides Naruto for the rest of the day apparently as he sat right next to him instantly. He was a loyal friend indeed, I thought with a smile as I sat in another table with Shikamaru and Shino on each side.

"What are we going to do?" Shikamaru whispered and I had no trouble suppressing a smile. That question brought enough bad thoughts to quench down my happiness. With a look I could tell both boys were angry. Not that it was evident, but anyone that knew them well enough could tell. Shikamaru wasn't sprawled lazily over the table. Instead he was sitting almost straight while resting his head on his fist and facing me, the fingers of his other hand slowly drumming over the wood. The ever silent Aburame was even less obvious, he looked the same as always, but the almost unnoticeable buzz of his bugs told me about his annoyance.

"Why do you think there's something to do?" I asked feigning confusion and both frowned at me.

"You look angry. So, either they haven't found the culprit…" Shikamaru started counting with his fingers. "or they did and did nothing about it or you can seriously hold a grudge."

"Or one of the first's together with the last." Shino added while pushing his glasses up.

"Shino's right." Their frowns deepened.

"What are we going to do?" The Aburame was the one to ask this time and I looked between them.

"I have a name." I whispered back and their faces snapped towards me.

"How?" Shino asked this time.

"I don't know how or who. But someone gave me a clue." I explained and Shikamaru's eyes narrowed for a second.

"A ruse?" He questioned.

"I'll have to check."

"_We_'ll have to check." The Nara corrected me as Shino nodded in agreement. "I don't know why everyone hates him. But it can't be a good enough reason."

"I know." Once more both of them all but snapped their necks at me. "I can't tell you, not right now at least. I _can't_." Both of them regarded me for a few seconds before nodding their heads in understanding.

"It isn't a good reason, is it?" Shikamaru continued prodding.

"Not even close." I answered with a shake of my head.

"Then… what do we do?" Shino asked and I turned my eyes to him. "We are going to help. Why? Because you would do the same for any of us." This time it was me that regarded both of them.

I trusted Shikamaru. He was my closest friend right next to Naruto. Him being smarter than average and me being older than I was supposed to made it pretty easy for us to understand each other, even if he was smarter than even me. He was the closest I could get to talking with someone my 'age' without having to talk with an adult. And I was truly grateful for that.

Shino, for his part, wasn't nearly as close with us. But I trusted him on this one. Mostly because I had come to understand why he approached us. He could relate a lot with Naruto's case. His clan was treated with disgust most of the time and while not nearly as bad as the outright contempt directed at the blond, it was still something that they shared. A kindred spirit of sorts. And as such, he would support the Jinchuriki.

Not to mention that none of our group had ever reacted badly towards his specialization. He had even told us how grateful he was for it, in his own indirect way. His personality prevented him from having truly emotional conversations. That made it even more important to let him in on this one. He was being emotional now.

"Track, confirm, gather information, plan and punish." I told them and turned my attention back to the class with a neutral expression.

As the day passed, all of us tried our best to stay right besides Naruto. Now and then his mood would drop and we would have to cheer him up. I decided after the second time that I would have a chat with him after classes. I needed to know what was going through his head and put a stop to it. The blonde should never look like that and if I had any say in it, he wouldn't.

"What the hell happened to you, idiot?" I clenched my fists together as Kiba asked his stupid ass question to Naruto. The blond had been much more subdued than normal and even the dumb mutt could tell, apparently.

"Kiba." I called out coldly and he turned to me almost snarling. "Shut up." I said curtly. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

"What? Mad that I insulted your girlfriend here?" He mocked while pocking a clearly irritated Naruto.

"Will you shut up, Dog Breath?" The blond said, contrary to the shouting he would usually do. His downtrodden mood made it even more difficult for me to control myself. I got really angry every time I noticed how affected Naruto was by what happened.

"He finally realized his stupid dream won't come true, right?" Kiba asked this time as if suddenly everything made sense for him. My knuckles were sure to be white with the amount of pressure I was putting on my fists. "It was about time, dumbass."

"Enough." Iruka called out over ours and the others conversations for the Taijutsu spars. Our group sat together as usual, but this time I didn't start a Shogi match with Shikamaru.

"Ignore him." I said even though my own voice gave away how angry I was too. "You'll prove him wrong when you become Hokage."

"Believe it." Naruto replied with a resolute nod and I gave him a small smile.

"It's getting more annoying." Shikamaru pointed out with a disinterested tone as usual although he was pointedly staring towards the Inuzuka.

"Why? Because he is getting lower and lower in the rankings. His pride is being hurt, so he tries to hurt others more." Shino analyzed and once more I heard the buzzing of his bugs.

"I wish I could-" Chouji started before being interrupted by Iruka.

"Kiba Inuzuka vs Eiji Satou." At another time, I would have grinned at the match up. I would have been pleased to finally being able to prove to the mutt that I wasn't here to be his joke and target. As it was, my expression didn't even twitch, remaining neutral the whole time.

"He is a clan heir." Shikamaru pointed out as I stepped towards the circle.

"I know." I reassured as we did the Seal of Confrontation and stepped back to take our stances.

"I'll finally be able to prove that your first place is just a fluke, Weakling." He said snarling at me. "I imagine it'll be another nail on the coffin of the idiot's dream." That was it. He was going down.

"Start." Sensei said and I instantly started calling out mentally. For a split second I noticed that Kiba had frozen in place and a screen had appeared in the corner of my sight. I ignored it.

'_Running. Free Running. Intermediate Taijutsu.'_

A second later, just as Kiba was recovering from whatever had stopped him, I was in front of him burying a fist in his gut. Taking full advantage of Free Running's buffs, I jumped over him while using my arms to 'maneuver' after grabbing his head midair. I swung his body on the air while I was still up before landing and threw him against the ground with a loud thud. I stared at him as he tried to get air inside his lungs.

"I'm tired of you insulting my friends." I said and with a simple kick, I knocked him out.

"Winner, Eiji Satou." Iruka called out and while he looked a bit surprised, he didn't look angry. That was a relief, not that I would apologize. The mutt had it coming for some time now.

"I told you he was an heir." Shikamaru said and I shrugged.

"What? He'll recover just fine." He snorted at that. Not even Chouji looked put off by what had happened, he even gave me a stiff nod when I looked his way.

Now a little calmer, I looked at the screen that had appeared before the spar.

**[Bloodlust (Active) – Lvl 1**

**Increases the user's projected desire to kill, maim or hurt onto the target or targets. The effect increases with level.**

**Consumption 10 Energy Points per second]**

'_I thought I would get this skill much later.'_ I thought to myself. Although, considering everything that had happened the last day, it made some sense. I was sure the effect without the skill was minimum and with the skill it wouldn't be that much. And it certainly hadn't been the reason for Kiba's freeze. He must have been surprised by it thought, and that should be the real reason.

**[}-o-{]**

After classes, Naruto and I guided our friends towards our new house. As a celebration of sorts, although all of us knew it was to keep the Uzumaki's mood up, all except him that is. Soon enough, Chouji and Naruto were already sparring in the improvised Taijutsu circle we drew in the garden and Shino, Shikamaru and I were looking from the side.

"So, first, we have to find him." The Nara took over once I had informed them of the name I was given. "Then we have to follow him so that we can gather information and confirm he is guilty."

"I'll be the one to do that." Shino took over from there. "Why? Because I'm the best at stealth." I had to grudgingly nod at that. The guy was twice as good as I was with Stealth _active_. I was sure that if I was an Aburame I would get some kind of perk to buff Stealth skills or something. There had to be a trick, I grumbled internally.

"Once we get that done, we'll be able to plan a punishment." Shikamaru finished. "We'll have to be careful. He is an Inuzuka and as such it'll be even more difficult to get away with anything. They can track you down easily with their enhanced senses, not to mention their ninken."

"My clan has a species of insects that can mask scents." Shino informed us and Shikamaru and I turned towards him with wide eyes.

"That… will be perfect."

"Still, I have to be the one to do it in the end." They both turned to me with frowns and I quickly explained myself. "They'll suspect us. Especially Shino if they can't find a scent. We'll have to make sure you all have an alibi. If we can do it without leaving evidence then they won't have anything to get me. And no one knows where I am most of the time besides Naruto. You on the other hand have families keeping their eyes on you." Their frowns stayed in place for a few moments before both grudgingly nodded.

I was glad I had decided to tell them. Kami knows what crazy thing I would have done to get away with a punishment for the Inuzuka. There was no way I would have found an effective way to conceal my scent from their senses and dogs after all. It had been a risk. But I trusted my friends. I had to, otherwise, I would be back to how I felt at the start. Alone.

"For now, this is all speculation." Shikamaru concluded. "We'll plan more once we get the information."

"You'll plan either way, won't you?" I asked sending a smirk his way to which got a sigh out of him before he returned the gesture.

"Let's go, Chouji. It's getting late." He said ignoring my question and getting the other two to stop their spar.

"See you tomorrow, guys!" Naruto said while waving as the others walked back to their homes. He looked a lot more cheerful than he had been during the day, thought with a smile.

"Let's go. I'll make ramen." I said and I swear that his eyes sparkled.

"Wohoooo!" He exclaimed as he practically shunshined inside.

"Set the table, damnit!" I shouted at his back. "I'm not doing everything again!"

"Ok." He grumbled from the seat he had already taken at the table. I shook my head at him. How had I ended up babysitting a Jinchuriki? I asked myself not for the first time.

"Aren't you going to tell me, Naruto?" I kept myself from turning to look at him as I prepared the meal.

"A-About what?" The nervousness in his voice told me that he knew exactly what I was talking about. I stopped myself from sighing and kept going.

"What's in your mind?" I asked softly and for a long moment the only thing that could be heard inside the house was Naruto setting the table and me preparing ramen. Until I heard what should be the last thing my blond friend had to get. From then on, only the sounds that I made were heard for what felt like an hour.

"I… I'm too much trouble, aren't I?" He muttered, so low that I almost missed it. My hand clenched and I was sure bloodlust would have leveled up if I didn't have to contain myself around Naruto.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned in annoyance. I knew. I already knew.

"Everybody hates me." He started. And I felt the need to track down everyone that glared at us in the streets and do a little more than just pranking. "You've seeing them, I know you have. You are too good to have missed it." The sliver of pride in his tone as he spoke on me made my heart both swell and ache. "Everyone glares at me, as if I was the cause of everything that goes wrong here. The shops don't want to sell to me. More than once someone has cursed my existence." He went silent for a moment. "Nobody had done something like this before though." Once more, his voice went so low that I had to strain my ears to hear it.

"I'm too much trouble, aren't I?" He repeated. "You have to endure their hatred just by walking besides me on the street. You have to buy and cook for me because I can't and nobody else will."

"Well, I can't very well let you burn another poor kitchen, can I?" I said mirthlessly. It was true though, the one time he had tried to cook something had been… abysmal. He chuckled hollowly.

"True." He sounded so tired. I hated this. I hated seeing and hearing Naruto like this. I was used to his cheerful self. Not this. This was just _wrong_. "And now… now you have to worry and fear about someone thrashing your home." He continued his voice breaking more and more as he went on. "I shouldn't have asked for you to come with me… Now you'll-"

"Shut up, Naruto." I was done listening to this. This wasn't like Naruto at all. My friend stayed silent after that. "You are my friend, Naruto. And no matter what anyone does, that's not going to change. You are the only one that can push me away, Naruto. Do you want me to leave you?" I asked.

Silence.

"I thought so." I said although a small part of me was relieved by his 'answer'. Both of us kept quiet as we started eating and it was after Naruto's fifth bowl that someone broke the silence. To my utter shock, he stopped eating at which was half his meal and turned towards me.

"Maybe I should." He said looking more nervous than I had ever seeing him. His arm shook almost violently as he scratched the back of his head and his eyes kept darting around. Before I could ask what he meant, he clarified. "Maybe I should ask you to leave." My hands froze midair and my neck almost snapped to look directly at him. His hand went from behind his head and rested on the table. On the other side laid his other hand and, slowly, both started forming fists, adding more and more strength until his knuckles turned white. "But I don't want to. I want you to stay." His gaze firmly set down on his hands as he spoke.

"Then, I'll stay." I said simply and before I could even think about it. I didn't need to consider my answer after all. A big smile crept on my face as I considered his words.

For all his emotional self, Naruto had never said something like that to me, or anyone for that matter, except maybe the Hokage. I wouldn't know about that. I didn't usually participate in their conversations after all. But to me, it was the first time he openly accepted that he appreciated my friendship. Usually, the most he would say was something along the lines of a boastful 'You're the best!' or the like.

"I'll stay for as long as you want me to, Naruto." And I truly would, through whatever the plot wanted to throw at him, even if I had or would change it for the worse somehow. Naruto was my friend, my best friend. It was as simple as that. He was the first person I had truly met since coming to this world. He was the one that showed me that surviving wasn't the best I could do.

"Hm." He hummed, before looking up at me with a watery grin and tears in his eyes. "You're the best, Eiji-nii." I felt my grin widen even more and a rush of warmth flow throw my body. Yes, I could do so much better than surviving.

"Now, how about we play some games. I found some in a cupboard last night." As I spoke, I saw his face lit up before he nodded enthusiastically. _'Brother, huh?'_ I shook my head in amusement still feeling like nothing could wipe the smile off.

Obviously, I was wrong.

Soon, Naruto had gone to bed and I sat once more at the dining room. Because, as great as my one on one moment with the blonde had been, I wouldn't be able to be truly happy with the bastard that had started all this still living happily. No, if anything, I had more reasons to get payback.

Slowly, I stood up.

I had to prepare.

**[}-o-{]**

**Shikamaru POV**

I had to prepare.

It was late that night, but my brain wouldn't let me sleep. Normally, I wouldn't have much trouble getting rest. But today was different. It was still fresh in my mind.

_"There was an attack to your apartment."_

I could still remember Naruto's face as the ANBU said that at Chouji's house. I had never seen him with anything other than that stupid grin of his or an occasional annoyed expression. And that was before I had to witness his downtrodden mood through the day. I hoped Eiji would set things straight before tomorrow. Or so help me, the Inuzuka, or whoever it was, would suffer. A lot.

Most would be surprised at those thoughts coming from me. A Nara being active at anything was a shock for almost anyone. But any member of my clan would be able to confirm. A Nara's mind in their lazy mindset was more active than most people in a normal one. However, there was a small detail that had to be added. I wasn't in a lazy mindset.

No, someone had targeted my friend.

Granted, Naruto wasn't exactly the closest person to me in our group. But everyone in our circle was important. I was betting that in most members minds, we were almost brothers. We had all bonded together as the outcasts we were.

I was always seen as the lazy guy or the scary smart guy, depending on who you asked. Chouji would always be that kinda shy guy or the fat guy, much to his ire. Shino would always be that creepy bug lover guy. Naruto… was difficult. He was obnoxious, but the hate he received didn't make sense. I hoped Eiji would be able clear that for us soon. It was giving me headaches some times.

And then there was Eiji.

For the longest time, I thought he was the odd one in our group, funnily enough. Because he was too normal. He was too good even. He never criticized. He never judged. He defended all of us. It was too good to be true. But, after months of being with him, I resigned myself to have to wait a long time to know what was up with him.

For a while, I was content with finding out about other aspects of his person. Like the fact that he was much more mature than the rest of us. Or that he was smarter than most people. We had bonded over those things. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to chat with someone that wasn't intimidated by my intelligence or annoyed by my attitude. Especially if it wasn't an adult.

I would go as far as to say that Chouji was my brother in all but blood. However, I connected much better with Eiji. And this wasn't even considering the fact that the Satou seemed to love playing Shogi with me as much as I loved playing with him. Fact that never stopped baffling me. The only person so far that had never been bothered by my skill at the game was my father. And he was, coincidently, the only person I knew that could beat me.

But it still bugged me. The fact that I knew there was more to Eiji. There was something there. Something that made him an outcast too.

At one point, I had gotten a glimpse of it though.

"_But we still will eventually go out there, probably with a team, in missions that _will_ be dangerous. I don't want it to be my fault when a team member dies. I don't want it to be my fault if someone I know is killed or worse."_

That day I had witnessed something. And for the life of me, I never could put my finger on _what_. But the final piece had come soon after that.

"_Can I go too?"_

That's when I saw Eiji for what he truly was and I found myself oddly at peace. Even as I heard that commanding tone that I had only heard on my father. Even as I looked that cold expression take over his usually warm face. Even as I saw my friend's eyes turn absolutely murderous.

I felt relieved.

Because now I could say that I knew what made Eiji Satou different. Now I knew just why he fit so well in our group. Because, yes, he had several attributes that made him stand out. But I had never seen a flaw in him. Not until that day. A fact that was quickly confirmed that day during the split second before his… _spar _with Kiba.

Eiji was scary.

Maybe calling it a flaw was exaggerating. It wasn't like my friend was overly aggressive or anything of the sort. The fact that it had taken us months to know about this not-so-little detail of his nature proved that. But it was still there. And I could safely say that Eiji was a wolf in sheep's clothing. For good or bad.

And the wolf's pack had been attacked.

I smirked to myself. I could finally make sense of my friend. When we first met, I thought that his dream of being Shinobi no Kami was too simplistic for someone like him. A fact that was proved more and more as I interacted with him.

But now I knew. He wanted to be Shinobi no Kami for the power it would give him.

"_I don't want it to be my fault if someone I know is killed or worse."_

And he wanted the power to protect those he cared about. Everything made sense now… not.

No, there was still more to Eiji. I knew. But I knew what I _had_ to know about my friend now. He still would have his secrets, and maybe I would never know the whole of it. However, as it was, I was satisfied with the fact that my friend was someone that knew darkness. That had that in his heart but instead of being bad, he used it for those he cared about. That was everything I needed to know about Eiji.

I shook my head. I had gotten really sidetracked. But I couldn't help it, all these answers I had been seeking for so long were still fresh in my mind. However, I needed to think now. A friend had been attacked, I thought as I brought my hands together in what my friends called my 'thinking posture'.

I needed to prepare.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Goddammit! This chapter just didn't want to be written. Which is funny because there's not much that actually happens. It was just difficult to just sit and write the thrice be damned thing. Especially that one on one with Naruto. Damn, it made me suffer until the very end. Which should tell how bad it was, considering that I finally got around writing a PoV of Shikamaru.

Anyway, onto the notes.

First of all, someone pointed out that **Energy Points** shouldn't even exist. They are right. It was a mistake on my part. This is my first Gamer fic and I started writing it as an experiment of sorts. To see if I _could_ write one. Energy Points and all the related skills are a product of that inexperience. As such, I won't be using them much from now on. I can't really think of much more skills than what already is there to use them anyway.

Second, about **last chapter's answers**. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. Opinions were really divided about the pace of the story. Some said that I go too slow, some that it's good, one guy even said that I go too _fast_ (yeah, I don't know what you were high on, man. But I want some of that shit. It must be good). Ultimately, I decided to just write the story as it comes to me. Will we still be at the Academy by chapter 30? Maybe. I wouldn't put it past me. Especially if another plot writes itself without my consent like it happened with the attack at Naruto's. I swear I don't know where the hell that came from.

Third, I'm still baffled by the support I'm getting. I mean, almost **1,5k follows, 1k favorites and 86 **_**freaking**_** reviews** in the last chapter alone. I… I just don't know what to say. You guys will start making me think I'm a good writer or something.

Forth, I don't think I'm making a mistake with making **Naruto call Eiji big brother.** Despite the fact that they are essentially the same age, Eiji is still much more mature and he is the one that takes care of Naruto like nobody else has done before. If Eiji was his actual age in this fic then Naruto would be seeing him as a father figure (in my head at least). But feel free to tell me what you think.

Fifth, **telling Shikamaru and Shino**. I've said before that I want everyone in the rookie nine (possibly twelve) to have an important role. These two are the start of that, and we can even throw Chouji in the mix too, although a bit on the small side for now. Eiji is almost sure he can trust them with the Kyuubi secret, as stated last chapter. So, telling them this doesn't sound so crazy to me.

Sixth, for any fan of **my** **DxD works**, you may want to take a look at my profile. I updated it to show something that you may want to see.

Seventh, if you are interested in **other possible works of mine**. You may want to check my profile too. I'll update there some of the projects that I write on the side when my head just doesn't stop coming up with different shit from what I actually want to write about. Those projects may never be a thing but I thought it would be interesting to see if you like the ideas.

Wow, the notes got really long this time. Sorry about that.

**Question:** What's your favorite dog breed? This question doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we will be dealing with an Inuzuka soon. Nothing at all. I swear. *Whistles casually*

**See you.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 11**

"How did you do it?" I groaned out loud as a scowl appeared in Naruto's and Chouji's faces. The rest of our little group didn't give outward reactions to one Kiba Inuzuka's question. I had hoped that me beating him without trouble would put the fear of Kami in him. Apparently, I was wrong.

"What the hell do you want, Kiba?" I said while mentally activating Bloodlust. I didn't actually want to beat the shit out of him… too much. But I hoped the skill would keep him away. I was severely disappointed as he gulped and stood his ground.

"I… I want to know how you did it." As I raised an annoyed eyebrow, he took a deep breath in and clarified. "How did you become so strong?" Suddenly, I was reminded of my little chat with Sasuke from some time ago.

"Go ahead, guys. I'll catch up to you later." I said, not moving my eyes from the annoying boy.

"You sure, Eiji?" Chouji asked somewhat protectively and I suppressed a smile.

"Yeah, we are out in the open. What can he do?" I asked with a smirk as I watched Kiba squirm under my stare, either because of Bloodlust, the situation or anything else, I didn't know.

"True. Let's go, guys." Shikamaru called and they went ahead. Damn, I wanted to go too. I took a deep breath as I deactivated Bloodlust.

It had been a week since the Attack and we were already facing a little problem. We had no idea how to actually find Kobu. Oh, we could guess he was in the Inuzuka compound. No mystery there. But we couldn't actually go around the compound and search for the guy or ask around. That would be a dead giveaway for whoever investigated once we got our revenge. So, right now we could only go around trying to get some kind of clue or, preferably, figuratively or literally bumping with the guy. We didn't have any kind of information to work with, after all.

Turning my attention back to the less annoying Inuzuka I had to deal with, I considered what to do. Advising Sasuke was one thing. For one, the Uchiha was an ass, but at least he didn't go out of his way to antagonize my friends and I like Kiba did. And for another, he had some heavy reasons for his attitude and I knew about them. Everyone did. If the boy in front of me had any reason to be the way he was I didn't know them. And so, my answer came easily enough.

"Why should I help you, Dog Breath?" My voice coming out with as much annoyance as I was feeling. I was pleased to see his eyebrow twitch.

"I… I am sorry. Ok?" He said, squirming even more under my surprised gaze. "I… For all the things I've said to you and the others…" The apology couldn't be more forced, but I was just surprised that he had even said the words.

"And you expect me to spill everything just with that lame ass apology?" His eyebrow twitched again and his expression turned to an angry one. "No. It doesn't work that way, Dog Breath. You've insulted my friends and me for the whole year so far. It'll take more than that. I want you to apologize to all of us, in front of the class and…" I activated Bloodlust once more for emphasis. "you'll do so on your knees to Naruto. He has put up with your crap for too long." This definitely didn't have anything to do with the blond calling me brother. Nothing at all.

"Are you out of your mind?" He growled and I simply smirked.

"You wanted something and I just stated a price. If you don't want the answers, just go on your merry way and stay the hell away from us. Or else I'll have to not only kick your ass but also do so embarrassingly." I said and then went after my friends. The conversation was done as far as I was aware. I heard Kiba start grumbling a 'conversation' with Akamaru as I walked away.

"Why did you answer my questions but not his?" My head all but snapped to see Sasuke leaning against a wall next to me with his eternal brooding scowl in place.

"Because you haven't insulted my friends. At least, not unprovoked." I thought to myself as I remembered the several fights that I had to stop when Naruto got annoyed at all the attention the Uchiha got. "And you have a good reason for your attitude. He doesn't, not that I'm aware of, at least." He seemed to mull over those words for a moment before shaking his head. Probably keeping thoughts about the massacre out of his head.

"Doesn't matter." He muttered before straightening up. "You said that my diet could influence my strength. What do I have to eat to get stronger?" He asked bluntly and I tilted my head. That definitely wasn't what I expected him to ask when he approached me. If he ever did, that is.

"I don't know as much as Chouji does, his clan is the one that deals with food more. I've been following his advice so far. I wouldn't know if you need something different from what I eat." I explained first. "But I can give you a list of what I eat and when. I don't think it can be bad for you to follow my diet." His frown deepened for a moment before nodding.

"I would… appreciate it." He said, almost as if he was being careful not to butcher foreign words. I couldn't help but smile in amusement at that thought. "I'll bring something in return." He said and then simply left. That last part left me standing there for a moment. What could he be thinking of repaying me with?

With a sigh, I started walking again.

**[}-o-{]**

Turns out that being somewhat friendly with Sasuke Uchiha has its benefits. Why, you may be asking yourself. Well, that can be answered easily enough. The very next day after our chat after school, I gave him a sheet with the diet I followed and he gave me a freaking _fuuma shuriken_. Yes! One of the foldable big ass shuriken that he and Naruto used against Zabuza. Just having it in my hand made me feel bad ass as hell. Naruto wholeheartedly agreed.

Best. Trade. Ever.

Some may think I'm exaggerating, but no. We wouldn't get to use fuuma shuriken until we became Genin after all. Granted, it was probable that taking the Bukijutsu elective would give us access beforehand but still. We couldn't even buy them and neither of our friends' parents would give us some to practice, not without supervision. Shikamaru's and Chouji's mothers pulled me apart when they found out and threatened me with bodily harm if I ever lent the thing to their sons before the next year, at the very least.

That was scary, I will admit.

But I couldn't care less as I saw my new Shurikenjutsu screen.

**[Shurikenjutsu**

**Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increased accuracy against a stationary target with a shuriken by 100%.**

**Increased accuracy against a moving target with a shuriken by 20%.**

**Fuuma Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 3**

**Increased accuracy against a stationary target with a fuuma shuriken by 20%.**

**Kunai Throwing – Lvl 12**

**Increased accuracy against a stationary target with a kunai by 100%.**

**Increased accuracy against a moving target with a kunai by 20%.**

**Senbon Throwing – Lvl 7**

**Increased accuracy against a stationary target with a senbon by 70%.]**

I'll be honest though. It leveled slowly. Which made sense. I couldn't quite apply my mastery over the other weapons like I had done with the senbon at the start. The bigger shuriken was used too differently for that to apply.

I also quickly learned the reason behind all the fuss over the thing. One slip or wrong throwing and I could easily cut something off or worse. While normal shuriken and kunai were little things the size of our fingers, the fuuma shuriken had blades the size of our forearms, for Kami's sake! I was really careful once I finally got around starting training, and had to keep the thing in my inventory. No way I was leaving that thing in Naruto's reach. No way in hell.

Another reason for my slow progress was that I spent almost all my time training Stealth.

**[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 17**

**Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.**

**Consumption 6 Energy Points per second.]**

And I must say that it looked pretty nice. I was catching up with Shino's apparent level.

"Eiji, eyes up ahead." Shikamaru's whisper broke me from my thoughts as my eyes turned sharply towards the front. There he was, I thought as I heard one of the people around him calling his name. Kobu Inuzuka.

He looked a little like old Kiba from the Boruto series but with black hair and the Shippuden outfit. Next to him stood what was apparently his ninken. A Husky, not that I thought that's what they called it in this world. For a second, I focused my gaze on the dog. There was something wrong with it but I couldn't for the life of me tell what it was. There seemed to be a difference with the other ninken that stood with the party, besides breed that is.

I shook my head and focused on saving everything I could see for future reference. _'We finally find you.'_ I thought exasperated. I was starting to think the clue was actually a ruse. Time to see if Danzo had given me the right information. I didn't have any delusions about who had given it to me after all. Anyone else would have acted or not said anything.

"So, we follow the plan?" I asked Shikamaru, he was our strategist. I wouldn't dream of taking his place. He gave my question a somewhat reluctant nod.

"Think you can do it, Shino?" He asked instead, both of us turning our eyes to the Aburame. It was fortunate that Naruto and Chouji were away with the Akimichi trying to convince the blond to go to one of his clan's restaurants instead of Ichiraku.

"I believe so." The reserved boy answered pushing his glasses up.

"Good luck." Shikamaru and I said as he moved away and we took the other two inside the restaurant.

The plan was simple enough, I thought as we sat at a table. Shino would follow the guy to his house and from there we would gather information as discreetly as possibly until we could prove he was guilty. Then came our revenge. I smirked as we ordered. It was just question of time anyway.

**[}-o-{]**

It was late that night. I was jumping through roofs as I had been doing for the last two weeks. It was training for both Stealth and Free Running and I had upped the effort that day. Shino had come back that night with the address of the Inuzuka and Shikamaru was probably happily planning with the extra information.

Keeping in mind the Nara's suggestion, I stayed as far away from the Inuzuka compound as I could. He already had some clever ideas in mind and I was putting them to use. But I still couldn't keep the smile off my face. We were one step closer to getting payback.

A shadow flew from the side and tackled me right in the gut. I fell in an alley, gasping desperately for air as I looked around for whoever attacked me. A second letter I felt a cold edge on my neck and I looked down to see a hand holding a kunai.

"Now, now. What do we have here?" A voice whispered next to my ear. "I think you are smart enough not to shout, Satou-kun." _'Who the hell-?'_ "You thought you could just up and follow a Chuunin like that? An Inuzuka at that?" My blood froze as I realized. _'Kobu.'_

His dog walked up to us from in front of me. It's white patches of fur doing nothing to conceal its presence even if the black parts blended perfectly in the shadows. And even without the white, those blue eyes seemed to shine in the darkness as they stared at me and its partner.

"I kind of understand it." The guy kept talking and I kept listening, keenly aware of the steel against my throat. "I attacked your… _friend_." He spat the last word so much venom that I almost flinched. "That thing shouldn't have remained inside this village. So many deaths, so many families destroyed just like mine. I even lost my partner that night. And what do they do? They left it roaming here, around our people."

"I would leave it as it is, brat." He told me. "I almost pity the obnoxious blonde. Almost. I was just venting a little anger, you see. I can't do anything about _it_, after all. Kami, I can't stand the sight of it." He muttered bitterly. "But alas, it'll live. So, leave me alone and nobody has to suffer. Let's go." The last part was said to the dog, who nodded weakly and both disappeared.

My back straightened, finally free of the edged threat, as I took a deep breath in. My mind worked as fast as it could, processing his words. He knew Naruto wasn't the Kyubi. He knew, but he didn't care anyway. The thought of what the blond contained alone had driven the broken man to the edge and he took it out as best he could.

_If_ Danzo was the only one that knew it was him then… he probably left it to me because nobody had been actually hurt. A test of sorts. I already knew that part, I even had an idea as to why nothing had been done. My theory was that Danzo was keeping an eye on Naruto with Root. As such, he probably was the only one that knew what had happened. And considering everything. Doing something probably wasn't a good decision for him if he wanted his group to stay under the radar. Not to mention that the Warhawk probably didn't care enough. It probably wasn't something to make a big deal off in his books.

Flashes of Naruto came to my mind. How he had been after the attack. How affected he had been.

"_You're the best, Eiji-nii."_

It didn't matter. It didn't matter if this was a test from Danzo. It didn't matter if Kobu had reasons.

He had hurt my friend. That was everything I cared about. If anything, it was made worse because the Inuzuka knew that he wasn't the Kyubi. Nothing was his fault. But he had to deal with it anyway.

I cracked my neck and started training again. I would need a damn high level of Stealth to get our revenge. But it would happen. He would _suffer._ I would make sure of it.

**[}-o-{]**

"He came for me." I said the next day as I sat beside Shikamaru and Shino. Both of them tensed up at my words.

"He saw me following?" Shino asked and I nodded. "I apolo-"

"Don't worry." I waved of his apology. "We should have known better. We are doing a lot better against the teachers but they still aren't active Chuunin." I reassured keeping my voice calm.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked with his eyes narrowed.

"He said to leave him alone." I relayed. "And he also confirmed that it was him." I informed and both of my friends seemed to go over the information.

"We are not leaving him alone, are we?" Shikamaru continued and I turned to him and stared. "Right. We'll have to be more careful."

"Indeed." I said simply. Iruka-sensei kept going on about the exams that would take place in two weeks. "For now, we train. He won't be going anywhere. We can play the long game." Both of them nodded turning to the front. "Oh, and Shika." He turned towards me with a frown that disappeared as soon as he saw me. "We are making it much more painful for him. Just to let you know." He nodded once more and turned.

**[Bloodlust has gone up a level.]**

**[}-o-{]**

**Ino PoV**

I shuddered as I looked at Eiji's spar with Chouji. I had thought his mood would improve with time, but apparently, I was wrong. Ever since that night three weeks ago, the Satou had been downright cruel in his spars. Kiba, being the stupid mutt he was, had gotten the worst of it after insulting Naruto.

Nobody had insulted Naruto since that day. Not out loud at least.

He didn't even spare his friends apparently. Although he was much more… good intentioned about it. More than once I had heard him giving them advice after a spar. None of them seemed to take offence either, which was baffling if someone asked me.

I had even asked Shika why they kept hanging with him. Why _he _put up with him. It didn't make sense in my head. Eiji was pushing them to do better and Shikamaru should have to try his best to get away from someone like that. At least that's what I thought.

"_We train because we want to."_ He had said in response. _"We asked him not to go easy on us."_ I could only stare at him with a gobsmacked expression.

"_But you never want to train."_ I had pointed out shocked and he simply shrugged with that exasperating bored expression of his.

"_He convinced me."_ And he left it at that as if that should explain everything.

Nothing about Eiji Satou made sense, I thought as he took out Chouji and they left the circle. The red-eyed boy whispering things to the Akimichi, probably advice or something of the sort. I could only shake my head at that. Things had been so much easier before the boy appeared.

I shook my head as the cold red eyes from that night flashed through my mind.

Not too long after that, I had made my way back home and started helping my mother with the shop. I was drawing things in a notebook as I waited for time to just pass at the counter. I would never understand how my mother could _enjoy_ doing this every day. The disbelief increased as I heard her hum contently to herself going through the plants on the greenhouse behind the shop.

I was broken from my thoughts as I heard the bells and instantly my mouth opened to welcome whoever had walked in. However, my teeth clicked shut seeing who it as. Red eyes found me and he smiled. What would have usually a warm smile before now wasn't nearly as reassuring as it would have been. I had seen what laid behind that expression.

"Hello, Ino." He greeted with a wave of his hand.

"Good afternoon, Eiji, welcome to our shop." I said, my voice coming out almost warm mostly because of all the times I had greeted customers. "What can I do for you?" I asked.

"I'm actually here to speak to your parents. Are they here?" He asked looking around before we once more my mother hummed a tone at the back.

"That's my mother. I'll call her for you." I made conscious effort not to run to the back. The boy just made me feel uneasy, and I really didn't like that feeling. At least he was acting somewhat normal, if he looked like he did that night… I shuddered at the thought.

"What can I do for you, Eiji-kun?" My mother asked with a big smile once we both made our way to the counter. I really didn't like how everyone acted so familiar with him. Although, I couldn't for the life of me think why.

"Well, it's more a question of what I can do for you, Yamanaka-sama." He still acted respectful. That was something.

"I've told you to call me Noriko, Eiji-kun." My eyebrow twitched. It was a good thing my mother wasn't looking at me. She really didn't like when I antagonized Eiji. Even though it didn't make sense for us to act close.

"That would be disrespectful, Yamanaka-sama." He said with a wry smile. Maybe he also thought it was weird. It would be nice to have someone understand the craziness of his existence, even if it was himself.

"So, what were you here for?" My mother asked.

"Well… I was here to ask for a job." He said, scratching the back of his head. A habit that he probably picked up from Naruto if I had to guess. Fortunately, that seemed to be about the only thing he did get from the obnoxious boy.

"Oh? I would have thought you would ask the Akimichi first." My mother voiced and I couldn't help but be curious myself. Chouji had spent more than one conversation talking about how great Eiji's cooking was. And he was much closer to them than to us as mother said.

"That was one of my first options, together with other restaurants." He replied with a polite smile. "But I thought I would try and pick up some new skills before graduation." I narrowed my eyes trying to detect a lie as my father had taught me. He wasn't lying, at least from what I could see and as a Yamanaka I could see a lot.

"Hmmm." My mother hummed tapping her chin with a finger in thought. "I'm guessing you don't know much?" He shook his head keeping his smile. "That could be a problem. There are some plants here that could be easily damaged or, on the contrary, some of them are dangerous to handle."

Meanwhile, I didn't know if I should be happy or angry. On one hand, if he started working at the shop, I would have more free time. On the other, if he did, he would be around a lot more.

"I understand that." He conceded easily. "I'm willing to spend some time working without pay as I learn what I need to. For as long as you think it's necessary." Working without pay? I wouldn't do that in a million years. Well… I wouldn't if my parents didn't force me to, that is.

"I'll have to talk about it with my husband. But I think we can agree to that. We can take care of the shop well enough by ourselves but sometimes Ino is too busy to help here." I looked away at the disappointed in her voice as she said the last part. What? I had better things to do than sit at the counter all day or tend to the plants. I quite liked gardening but everything had limits.

"Just say the word and I'll start right away. Anytime is fine as long as it isn't during Academy hours that is." He said with an excited grin. No one should be that happy to work, I thought resisting the urge to groan. "Also, thanks for your time. Have a nice day, Yamanaka-sama, Ino."

"Have a nice day yourself, Eiji-kun." My mother waved happily as the boy left.

"See you." I said unenthusiastically.

"Well, it'll be nice to have more help around the shop." My mother turned to me and I really didn't like the glint in her eyes. I forced a smile on my face as I spoke.

"Yes, it'll be nice to have a bit more free-time." Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as the glint intensified.

"Yeah, about that, sweetie." I gulped. This couldn't be good. "Once your father gives the okay, you will be in charge of teaching him what he needs to know."

I groaned and mentally cursed the existence of Eiji Satou once more.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

A bit short, I know. Initially, I was going to have some more things after Ino's PoV. But I decided to push that for next chapter. It's been two weeks since the last update and I really wanted to post something. It's great to have 1,7k followers but it also makes me feel really guilty when time passes and I continue not updating.

One of the things I want to point out in these notes is. **Kiba's attitude** has an explanation. We'll get to that eventually. And **Ino's attitude** well… I don't want her to come out the wrong way. She is just a bit on edge around Eiji since the night of the attack. The fact that she was working as all this happened also didn't help her mood.

Also, I just realized that it's been like 4 chapters since I said I would start chakra training and we are not even close. I would apologize but, honestly? It's the characters fault. They just don't want to cooperate and instead go around doing whatever the hell they want. Blame them.

I'm also kinda curious to see what other random shit they'll come up with by themselves. Aren't you?

**Question:** How would you nerf the Sharingan or at least the Mangekyou while still keeping it powerful? For curiosity's sake, obviously. *Whistles casually*

**See you.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 12**

A few days later, Ino gave me the message that her parents accepted me as a part-time worker at their shop. Moreover, they were nice enough to let me start after the mid-year exams at the Academy. Not that I needed them to do so, I was pretty sure I could ace the tests without actual preparation besides the theory tests. It was still nice though.

"Are you ready, guys?" Chouji asked with a smile. It was plain to see that he was nervous though. I returned the gesture confidently.

"All ready, let's ace this. Well… except for Naruto." I said jokingly.

"Oi!" The blonde protested annoyed and I chuckled. He really had put effort on the theory part though. Granted, I had tutored him through the whole thing during the months we had been friends, so, he had an easier time than he would have had in canon. Or… this universe's version of canon. I was kind of surprised I didn't get a teaching skill or something of the sort though.

"Do you have to be so loud all the time." Shikamaru poked his ear with a scowl.

"Naruto wouldn't be himself otherwise." Shino pushed his glasses up. They both were trying very hard not to stare at Naruto as he started a conversation with Chouji and we walked calmly behind them towards the class. It was good to see the blond Jinchuriki being his usual self.

"Ready for the Taijutsu test?" Shikamaru asked turned towards me and I grinned at him.

"Yeah, nobody is going to be able to tell me that my win was cheap or luck." I said resolutely. Iruka-sensei had told us one week earlier that the Taijutsu test would be against the one closest to our rank. As first place, I would fight against Sasuke and if I was honest with myself. I was looking forward to it. I had improved a lot since our spar, he probably had too, and I really wanted to see how I stood against him now.

"I believe you have a good chance. Why? Because I've seen your improvement." Shino commented. "I wonder if I'll be able to take the third place."

"Against Kiba? You better, otherwise we'll have to gang up on you until you improve." I joked but he nodded seriously making me sweat drop. He sometimes missed our-

"And I suppose we'll have to do accordingly if you lose." He countered and my jaw almost dropped before I snorted. Shino was a sneaky bastard when he wanted to be… and also when he didn't.

"Right, of course." We both ignored the mutters about 'training maniacs' from beside us with practiced ease. Even if we were joking, Shikamaru really didn't like the mention of training outside of when we were actually training.

"Do your best, Shika!" We heard Yoshino from the entrance, the young Nara groaned in annoyance while I just smirked at him. Parents coming to the academy to see their children tests going on seemed to be a tradition of sorts. Especially for those that came from clans.

"If you complain, I'm gonna kick your ass." I warned without letting anything show on my face. Shikamaru's mouth clicked shut at my words before nodding in understanding.

"Right, sorry."

"It's not me the one you have to worry about." I reminded him. I didn't have a family. I had made peace with that before I even died in my last life. Naruto on the other hand…

"Sometimes it's difficult to remember." Shino said in a strange bout of empathy. He was just full of surprises today. "We shall try harder to do so."

**[}-o-{]**

"Aw man, my head hurts." Naruto complained as we went outside after the theory part of the exam and all of us rolled our eyes.

"Seriously," I chided. "It's not that difficult."

"Not really." He accepted with a nod before grimacing. "But it's boring!" I just pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Just give up, Eiji. It's a lost battle." I could only nod grimly at Shikamaru's words. We were distracted by the sound of several enthusiastic mothers cheering for their children as we would start the physical part of the test. My eyes though, focused intently on Naruto.

"Try not to eat too much of my dust, will you, Naruto?" I said with a smirk as his expression started turning sad. He quickly turned to me with a frown.

"I'll beat you today, for sure, believe it." He grumbled to himself. "Stupid jutsu that you won't teach us."

"It's not a jutsu." _'It's a Skill.'_ I added mentally for the hundredth time. It never got old. The others just ignored us as usual. They weren't as bothered by this as Naruto was. I knew the reason though, and it always made me frown. I forced myself to keep a normal expression though.

Naruto was worried. Both of us knew why the others didn't care. They knew they would have their own advantages once we started the next year, what with their clan training and jutsus. Naruto though, wouldn't have that. I didn't either, but I had the system and the blonde could see part of it in Running and some other things.

It had been frustrating. Because as we prepared for the mid-year exams, I had tried to discreetly invite him to a party. It would have kept his mood up by being able to track his progress if nothing else. It would have been a great way to show that I cared and trusted him. It hadn't worked. The Game didn't have a Party System. I added that to the long list of disappointments.

From then on, every time Naruto felt left behind hurt. And every time he called me Eiji-nii, I felt guilty. Sadly, we would have to wait until he found out about his advantages as an Uzumaki and Jinchuriki. Even if he didn't know why he had what he had.

"Start!" Iruka-sensei called out waking me from my thoughts. I sprinted almost without thinking while mentally activating Running. I quickly found my way to the front.

The lap running test went just as it did on a usual day. I finished first, with Sasuke and Naruto following not so far behind in that order. Then a complaining Kiba and, a little later, everyone else. Shino took the fifth place, which finished the number of scores that would get special mentions afterwards. Kiba and Naruto were much more vocal about everything than they usually were due to this. I walked towards the latter once we were done.

"You are almost there, Naruto. Just look at him." I pointed a thumb towards Sasuke who was leaning on his knees while trying catch his breath. My blond friend, on the other hand, looked barely winded. Being an Uzumaki did that. Or maybe it was the Kyuubi? Maybe both. The thing was, now with a proper diet to develop his body, the training we did and his nigh infinite stamina, Naruto would catch up to the Uchiha sooner or later unless something crazy happened. Being a prodigy wouldn't help the avenger, not with this.

"I know, I'll surpass him and then you, Eiji." He replied with a big grin. I was surprised when I first noticed that he had enough tact not to call me Eiji-nii in public. He still did call me that when we were with our friends though. That had earned some curious looks from them but they all just shrugged it off.

"You'll certainly try." I waved him off getting pout in return. A moment later when everyone had recovered, we followed Iruka-sensei towards the Shurikenjutsu range for our accuracy test.

"Well, time for you to show off even more." Shikamaru grumbled next to me and I smirked. What could I say? There was next to no chance of me failing this test. I could only get extra points with the Senbon part after all, which was the only one I wouldn't get perfect score.

I wasn't a teacher, but from what I knew of my fellow classmates I could guess the top 5 of this one. I was pleased to see that I had been mostly right. I was first place, then Sasuke, then came, to everyone's surprise, Shikamaru followed by Ino and Shino. The latter of which took the top place of everyone that wasn't taking Senbon training.

"If you don't take the first place in the whole exam, I'll call bullshit." Naruto chuckled as we moved towards the Taijutsu circle. I just shook my head amused. He wasn't wrong though. I was pretty sure that I would be top three at the very least in the theory part. Shikamaru would definitely get first place there, and there was a high chance of Sakura outdoing myself there too. I would be the first to admit that I didn't put too much effort on the books. Which Naruto usually pointed out when he wanted to slack off. It not being my highest priority and it being left out were different things though.

Still, I should do decently enough in that test and with first place in running and Shurikenjutsu, my first place was pretty much guarantied unless Sasuke absolutely trashed me in Taijutsu. Which I was sure wouldn't happen. Even if I didn't win, he shouldn't be that far ahead anymore. And I was being serious about not being sure about my victory. I had saved some Energy Points during the running test, but I had still had to use quite a bit to secure my first place. That meant that I wouldn't be able to use Intermediate Taijutsu for more than a few seconds.

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: Academy Student**

**Energy Points: 148/400**

**Chakra Points: 190/190**

**Strength: 19 **

**Dexterity: 19 **

**Constitution: 20 **

**Chakra: 19 **

**Chakra control: E]**

**[Intermediate Taijutsu (Active) – Lvl 4**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.**

**Active Effect – Increases the user's physical stats by 2.**

**Active Effect Consumption 50 Energy Points per second.]**

'_Two seconds, three at most if I get lucky.'_ I mused to myself. Still, it shouldn't come to that. Two seconds should be enough if I was cornered. The rest I would save for Running or maybe Bloodlust.

"Eiji Satou vs Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka called out and I took a deep breath in before sharing a look with my opponent. After doing the pleasantries of the pre-battle, we faced one another.

"Wipe the floor with him, Sasuke-kun!" Saruka's infamous banshee scream rang over the other fangirls' voices. I was surprised to find out that Ino had become much less vocal about her infatuation. It hadn't lessened though.

"You can do it, Eiji-kun!" I felt a chill run down my spine as a girl shouted that. _'I have fangirls too?'_ I thought with trepidation. I grimaced at that.

"Oh, Kami." I muttered to myself.

"Tell me about it." Sasuke grumbled, apparently, he had heard me. This time we shared a look with a completely different meaning. No wonder he was so irritable. I would be too if I had to deal with this every day. It was especially disturbing considering that I was actually twice their age. Making friends with these children was one thing, they were pretty mature for their age. But thinking about… _that_ was a different thing altogether, I thought with a shudder.

"Let's get this over with." I said and he nodded resolutely.

At sensei's "Start." we both rushed at each other. The spar was nothing like our first one. Fists flew around, kicks cut the air, bodies turned to dodge or parry. It was the most even match I had ever had, I realized. It was challenging and difficult. I never got a clear shot at him and neither did he get one at me.

And I loved it.

Defeating him had been great and all. But I had won with cheap tactics. Not that it mattered. A win was still a win. However, winning by a technicality and actually facing off the most prominent prodigy on the whole Academy since Itachi Uchiha was… something else. It filled my chest with a feeling of accomplishment.

But it wasn't enough.

And so, I pushed. I pushed myself as hard as I could. I couldn't waste Energy on skills, not just because. But I didn't need it. I could fight this by myself. Victory would be mine. My own hellish training would pay off, right there and then, that, I vowed. Not because I wanted Sasuke to acknowledge me, or because I wanted to prove myself to my friends. No. I would win for myself. I hadn't worked myself to the ground since I arrived to this world just to up and _lose_.

I didn't _need_ a Bloodline Limit. I didn't _need_ a fancy heritage. I just needed to survive. Survive and keep improving. But merely surviving wasn't enough anymore.

'_Shinobi no Kami.'_ I thought as a grin spread on my face even with the spar still going on. _'Dream big, wasn't it? Why survive when I can _live_?'_ I had asked myself more than once. And therein laid the question. No, I wouldn't _survive_. I would _live_. Live this second chance I had been given and live it to the best of my abilities. I had made friends. I had found a brother.

That was why I wouldn't settle for acceptable or _decent_. No, I wanted to be the best damned ninja the Elemental Nations had ever seen. Fuck Madara and fuck Kaguya. More importantly, fuck _canon_.

With a face-splitting grin on my face, my fist connected right in the middle of Sasuke's gut. He staggered back and coughed. This was it. My win.

I kicked the side of his leg and he grimaced, his body twisting to his right. I rotated, sending a second kick to the side of his head. He ended up on the ground. Silence fell on us and I stopped. He weakly pushed his face off the dirt. We were all kids, at least in body. I had learned that after a while. A few direct hits and most of us would be down. We couldn't just _tank_ those kinds of hits. Blocking and the like for sure. But never just _taking_ the hits and shrugging them off.

With my gaze firmly locked on my opponent, I waited.

Why? Simple. I _wanted_ him to get up. Probably for the same reason he hadn't just knocked me out all that time ago. I gave him a chance, out of respect. Because we stood at the top of the class. We were rivals. The only ones that could challenge the other. And it felt great.

I had never quite understood rivalries in anime and the like. It always seemed a bit stupid. Granted, some were touching and all that shit. But sometimes they were just stupid. At least back then. Because, sometimes they formed between mortal enemies and the like and you would get this kind of touching moment between people that should hate the other's guts. How did that make any kind of sense?

But… now I knew. A rival was much more than I ever realized before that moment. A rival was an _equal_. And in a world of strength, speed and _power_, an equal was important. I understood then, as I saw the last loyal Uchiha stand weakly on his feet. I smirked at him and he smirked at me. I took my stance once more and his face turned serious once more.

He dashed towards me, for all of a couple of steps before jumping. I wanted to laugh at that. I recognized it. I stepped aside and he opened his legs. He was really copying my move. _'Free Running.'_ I thought as I jumped with all my strength. He twisted his body midair to kick me but I kicked him first. He rolled on the ground before simply stopping. With a thud, I fell back to the ground.

"Winner, Eiji Satou." I started chuckling instantly after sensei's announcement. Wails broke out from Sasuke's fangirls while a few other girls cheered. I tried my best to ignore the latters. Soon, I was being shaken by an enthusiastic blond.

"You kicked his ass!" Naruto shouted while holding my arms and moving me back and forth. "And it was so _awesome!_" He added even louder than normal. I simply returned his grin wholeheartedly.

"Congratulations!" Chouji added with a thumbs up.

"You fought really well." Shino commented. "Even if it was an even battle for the most part. Congratulations." He nodded at me and I returned the gesture.

"Thank god." Shikamaru sighed. "I was worried you would have us up the training or something." He commented with a grimace at the very idea. I slapped him on the back.

"I knew you cared, Shika. Now, crush me so that it doesn't go to my head, will you?" I asked before chuckling as he instantly made his move on the board.

The top five of the Taijutsu spars ended up being me in the first place, Sasuke second, Shino, much to our joy, in third, then Kiba and lastly, Chouji. On the girls' side, Ino took first, then Hinata, then Sakura and the last two I didn't even care. It wasn't because they weren't named characters or anything of the sort. It was because they were just so far beneath the level of the named characters that it wasn't even worth the effort, honestly.

Naruto had been a bit bummed that he had only appeared in the top of the running test, but we were able to keep him from being too affected. He had placed pretty well in all of them, after all. I noticed though, that he seemed to be much less affected than I anticipated. It still surprised me sometimes, the apparent effect I had had in the world already.

We didn't have to wait much longer after the spars for the teachers to announce the results of the theory test. Shikamaru took first place, no surprise there for me, then Sakura, also not a surprise, _then_ it was me, which was a bit surprising, then Shino and closing the top was Ino. Curiously, I looked a bit further down. Sasuke, Hinata, Chouji, Naruto and Kiba. Naruto was just glad he had beaten the mutt and, being honest, so was I.

Finally, they announced the overall top five. I had given up trying to guess them, considering that I barely remembered those out of the top fives and that girls were mixed up in almost all of them but were divided for the general top. I just couldn't accurately guess it.

"Fifth place in the male side, Naruto Uzumaki." All of us turned to a gaping blond.

"You did it, you hyperactive knucklehead." I brought him on a one-armed hug and shook him while the others congratulated.

"I'm at the top? But… I only entered the top for running…" He muttered still staring at where they wrote his name on a board.

"Forth place, Shikamaru Nara."

"Wooo! Well done, Shika!" We all heard Yoshino shouting from where the parents were watching. Said Nara Heir smacked his forehead with his palm and let out a long, suffering groan.

"Congratulations." Chouji said bringing his best friend in a hug much like I had done Naruto.

"Third place, Shino Aburame."

"We are just filling the list up, aren't we?" I said with a grin. Even Shino looked amused, from what little was visible of his face, that is. We didn't hear his parents shouting, although that wasn't surpri- Was that a buzz? Was that a bit of pink in Shino's cheeks? Interesting.

"Second place, Sasuke Uchiha." The fangirls went wild.

"Well, that was expected." I said with a shrug as everyone turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't see that coming?" I commented with a raised eyebrow.

"First place, Eiji Satou." I simply grinned as the screens popped.

**[Quest Complete: Finish the Mid-Year Exams in First Place**

**Reward:**

**\+ 1 to all Stats**

**\+ 1 to all Skills**

**\+ Title: Aspiring Prodigy]**

**[Aspiring Prodigy: Improves the rate at which your stats and skills increase by 10%.]**

'_If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'_ I thought with a grin as I equipped the title. 5% more was 5% more.

"Well," I said casually, even thought my expression betrayed how excited I was. "what are the plans for today?" I asked while Iruka gave a little speech before sending everyone home.

"We'll celebrate at my place." Chouji said with a grin. He seemed genuinely happy with our achievements. That was how Chouji was though, the others were always first in his mind.

"Your mother will _have_ to let me help."

"She was kind of hoping you would say that. The Nara and the Yamanaka are coming too, and she really wanted to cook a _lot_. So, she said she would appreciate the help." He explained and I nodded with a smile. I didn't mind, I kind of enjoyed cooking anyway.

"Sure. It's the least I could do. Naruto will wash the dishes."

"Oi!" Everybody snickered.

"So, I leave you alone for half a year, just like you wanted," We all fell silent at that voice. Even the other students and families that stood near it. "and this is what you accomplish?"

Turning my head, I saw two women looking with extreme disappointment at a younger boy. A big, black dog stood right next to the older woman while three slightly smaller grey dogs stood behind the younger one. The mother had wild spiky brown hair and an almost animalistic look. The daughter had the same hair color tied in a ponytail with two locks framing her face.

Tsume and Hana Inuzuka, I realized.

"But mom-" Kiba started.

"You said you didn't need my training. That you could place well by yourself." I cringed internally from her tone. That was the voice that all boys and girls feared the most. A disappointed mother's voice. "'I don't need to train so hard. They are all weaklings.' Wasn't it?" I was surprised Kiba hadn't ran for the hills already at that point.

'_This explains things a little.'_ I thought to myself. This explained his frustration at our progress a bit more. If he wasn't getting training from his family, it must have hurt to see us improve so much too while being orphans. Basically, in the same situation as he was at the moment. _'Still doesn't excuse anything though.'_ I shrugged mentally.

Besides those thoughts, I decided to ignore them. The rest of our group was looking at the scene play out. Naruto was on the verge of laughing before I elbowed him. Even if he tried to hide it, I was sure they would hear it with their enhanced senses.

My focus though, quickly fled to their dogs and compared them to Kobu's. I couldn't shake the feeling that his ninken… there was something wrong with it. But for the life of me, I couldn't point out what. It was frustrating.

"Curious, aren't you, kiddo?" The voice snapped me from my thoughts and I turned to see an amused Tsume.

"Sorry for staring, Inuzuka-sama." I bowed to both, the ninken and her. When I looked back up she had a half-smile and a raised eyebrow on her face.

"Don't worry about it." She waved it off amused. "Why so curious though? I'm sure you've seen ninken before." She asked with a tilt of her head that reminded me entirely too much of a confused puppy. It felt like seeing the action on a fully grown tiger or something of the sort.

"You are right, I've seen plenty, actually." I started slowly, my mind racing. And then, an idea formed in my mind. I had to make conscious effort not to smirk outwardly. "And I saw this one the other day… it acted strange." I commented with a confused frown. Maybe I was being stupid. Or _maybe_ I was just a real genius.

"How so?" Piped up Hana from the side, all the ninken staring at me. Even my friends. Shikamaru's eyes told me to go along with it. That was all the reassurance I needed.

"Well, it wouldn't look up, even when spoken to. And his tail and ears were also down. It almost looked like it was trying to just curl up into a ball." I said as casually as I could with a small smile at the end. It helped that I wasn't lying at all. "Although, maybe it was just shy. I don't know dogs that well." I shrugged. I was being honest there too. I was just commenting on it because it was true and because 'why not?'.

The shared looked they interchanged told me that there was much more than I had originally assumed.

"Can you describe the dog? And its partner too, if you can." Tsume asked, and if I had been the kid I was supposed to be, maybe I would have missed the steel that slipped in her voice. However, I wasn't and I didn't.

I tried to cover myself, simply describing the dog to the best of my abilities but leaving Kobu's as vague as I could. I was trying to sell the story that the dog was the one that caught my attention, not the other way around, after all. It helped that I was good with half-truths. I didn't have any delusions of being able to outright lie to a Jounin.

"How rude of me." She said once I finished. "Tsume Inuzuka, as you probably know. You do know Kiba and this is my daughter, Hana." She said pointing at their children. "My partner, Kuromaru and my daughter's partners, Hai, Ma and Lu, Lu is a girl, in case you were wondering. You are familiar with Akamaru, I'm sure." I paid close attention as she introduced everyone, and noticed that she made the distinction between the Haimaru brothers. I narrowed my eyes trying to see a difference between them. They looked exactly the same, although…

"You don't have to try and recognize which is which." Hana said with a reassuring smile and I saw that the others were also looking between the three dogs confused, even Shikamaru. I looked at the dogs again.

"I think I can differentiate them." The three dogs' heads snapped towards me. I didn't quite know why I said it. It was unnecessary. But I was kind of on a rush after the day's events and accomplishments. Maybe I still had a bit of child mentality in me. Or maybe I was just getting used to being around important people?

"Oh?" Hana raised a skeptic eyebrow.

"Even Inuzuka have difficulties with that. They even smell almost identically. There's no way it is that easy for you." Kiba dismissed my statement instantly, getting a look from his family.

"Care for a test?" I asked with a grin to the dogs and one barked. "I'll close my eyes for a few seconds." And I did so. I heard the dogs walk around for a moment before one barked and I opened my eyes. "Hai." I pointed at the one on the right. "Ma." I pointed at the left one. "And Lu." I pointed at the on in the middle.

"H-How?" Kiba stammered. "I still have trouble telling them apart." He added in disbelief.

"Hai looks like a dog version of Shino." I explained with a smirk to my Aburame friend. "Ma looks like he has the same energy levels as Naruto. And Lu… well, she is adorable." Lu gave me a happy bark in response and I grinned at her. Her brothers looked put out by the comment.

"Well… color me surprised." Tsume commented with both eyebrows slightly raised.

"First time someone notices that fast, I think." Hana added, this time looked like she was trying to analyze me with her eyes.

"Hmm, guys? We should probably get going." Chouji said looking uncomfortable about interrupting. "Mum said she wanted to get home quick to start preparing the food and the look she is giving me…" He shuddered and we turned to see that indeed, the woman looked on the verge of coming and dragging us to their house.

"We better get going, then." I said. "Pleasure to meet you, Inuzuka-sama, Inuzuka-san." I bowed to both women. "And you guys too." My grin widened as I spoke to the dogs. I was a dog person, what can I say? "See you in class, Kiba." I was proud of how casual my voice came at that last one.

"The pleasure was ours, and please, call me Tsume." The intimidating woman said with a wolfish smirk.

"And me Hana." Her daughter added happily. "Anyone that can differentiate these brats can call me by my name." I gave a wry smile at that. Why was everyone so open around here? It was a goddamn ninja village, wasn't it?

"Sure…" I replied awkwardly.

Everyone else said their goodbyes and we went on towards the Akimichi compound.

**[New Perk Acquired: Leader.]**

'_What?'_

**[}-o-{]**

**Hiashi PoV**

"Eiji Satou…" I mused with narrowed eyes locked on the score board. "That's the boy that invited you to his… group, isn't he?" I asked, my gaze moving towards the dark-haired boy and his friends. The Aburame, Akimichi and Nara heirs and the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails. The boy either was much smarter than his score in theory let on or he had a terrifying amount of luck.

"H-He was, father." I had to make conscious effort in order not to sigh at my daughter's stutter. An Heiress of a clan as powerful as the Hyuuga shouldn't behave like that and despite my efforts, the girl just wouldn't stop.

"Did he say why?" I prodded, with my eyes still fixed on the red-eyed boy as he interacted with the Inuzuka head's family as if he was an old friend. Which was strange, as I was sure it was the first time they met, the male heir aside.

"Not really." Hinata answered quickly. "H-he just said that he would like to s-spar, that his friends and him do that s-sometimes. And stealth practice… and shogi, I think…" This time I did sigh as I heard her go from almost normal talking to whispering.

"I see. Did he mention anything else?"

"He mentioned being interested in the Gentle Fist." My eyes narrowed instantly at the Satou's back as his group left.

'_So, it's cunning and not luck, huh?'_ I thought to myself. The boy wasn't even in his last year at the Academy and he was already gathering allies, it seemed. That together with his talent… My eyes went back to my daughter. _'If only it was Hanabi.'_ My second daughter would have had a much better chance at befriending the boy instead of Hinata, with her social problems.

'_On the other hand, … he _did_ approach _her_.__'_ I reasoned. Maybe the boy saw something in my first daughter, or was it just because she was the one in his class? Either way, I did see potential in Hinata despite what many believed. The problem was that she didn't have the drive to be a proper successor to the Hyuuga clan.

My thoughts traveled back to the Satou and the several meetings that had been had at the council regarding his friendships. The Akimichi and the Nara had had nothing to say but praises for the boy after only a few weeks and that had only grown with time. Especially once their heirs seemed to find in them the drive to better themselves. And that wasn't even mentioning the effect he had had on the Jinchuriki, the one to benefit from his presence the most.

'_Maybe…'_

"You have my permission to join them." I decided and purposely ignored my daughters break from the proper etiquette as she gaped like a fish. "However, you will keep the Gentle Fist a secret as it should be. We'll see if he earns the chance to learn it." And with that, I started walking back to the compound. Maybe the Hyuuga could benefit from this anomaly too.

Kami knows anomalies have the tendency of leaving all too early.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

*Sigh* It's been a long ass time, hasn't it? My only excuse is writer's block. I've spent all this time trying to write and so far, I can barely get a few hundred words on any project before having to stop or scratching the whole thing off. It's almost painful, I'm telling you.

I had this chapter up to before the fight with Sasuke ready since a few weeks after the last update. It took me this long to get the rest.

I have serious doubts about the **Inuzuka** interaction. But as a nice change of pace, I'm reasonably sure about the **Hyuuga **one.

I wanted to comment about something I saw in several reviews. People have been asking for blood and death and I'm like… Chill people, we're in the Academy in the safety of the village. Once the kids graduate and we get to go out… *smirks* well, there should be enough blood and death. Don't you worry.

Feel free to tell me what you think about the chapter.

**Random Question:** Em… I don't have a question this time so… What do you think about the story so far?

**See you.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 13**

The week following the mid-term exams was an… interesting one, to say the least.

First of all, was the weekend. Naruto and I spent it half at Shika's and half at Chouji's, only going back home to sleep. Shino also informed us that his father gave us permission to visit if we wanted to. We would have gone there, but considering how Shino was and what little he had told us about his family, we decided against it for the weekend. We were all celebrating our results after all, no need to bother the quiet family with our celebrations.

After Naruto got over his surprise, he had been happy to shout his fifth place to anyone that listened, and also those who didn't. Chouji had been quite happy with his progress too even if he hadn't made it to the general top five. Even Shikamaru and Shino seemed happy, in their own way. The former by smiling instead of smirking from time to time, and Shino, the most difficult to tell, was much more proactive in his interactions.

Even the parents were showing their excitement. Shikamaru's and Chouji's mothers both pulled me aside to thank me for getting their sons to train more seriously. It had been an awkward conversation for me and I could only scratch the back of my head as I told them it was nothing. Moments like that made me feel like the child I was supposed to be. Even Shikaku and Chouza showed their appreciation, even if I was treated to a beating at Shogi by the former while they were at it.

Outside of our little group, I even got to see even more excitement from Ino at the gathering of the three clans that Saturday. Hilariously, she was as enthusiastic about her first place as my blond brother in all but blood was with his fifth. And it was funny too, that the one embarrassed by me pointing that out was the Yamanaka instead of the Uzumaki.

It was after those two happy days that the first surprise came my way. I was simply sitting at our table with a cup of tea while Naruto slept early, for once. I had a smile on my face considering everything that would change from then on. I would start working with the Yamanaka, probably gaining one more skill at the very least. And Iruka-sensei would start my chakra training early. That was what I had been looking forward to ever since I woke up in this world. Even if I tried to avoid it to escape unnecessary attention. Attention that I had gotten either way, apparently.

A knock on the door made me narrow my eyes. Our friends wouldn't come at this hour. And nobody else visited us. Danzo, or whoever left the note with Kobu's name wouldn't knock either. I considered simply leaving it and act as if I was asleep too, just to be on the safe side. In the end, I sighed, telling myself that I was being overly paranoid for no reason. What had someone to gain for attacking us? I had gained attention but no so much and certainly not negative, besides associating with Naruto. I _did_ pause for a second as a certain Inuzuka's face flashed through my mind before shaking my head.

"Hokage-sama." I breathed out as my eyes widened.

"Good evening, Eiji-kun. I do believe I've told you before to relax." The leader of the village said good-naturedly and I gave a wry smile at that.

"I'll do my best, Sarutobi-sama." I replied nervously while inviting him inside. The elder man let out a chuckle with an amused expression in his face.

"If I may ask, why do you find it so difficult to just call me Hiruzen?" He asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"I'm just an Academy Student." I said while I 'guided' him to the table. "And a clanless orphan too. And you are the Hokage on top of being the Head of an important clan. I think it's pretty obvious, Sarutobi-sama. Can I get you some tea or something else?" I asked as he took a seat.

"Tea would be nice, thanks." I turned and checked that the water I had used for my tea was still hot and prepared another cup. "Thank you. I would have thought that Naruto would have rubbed off on you to help with that… problem." He added referring to the blonde's ability to be informal with anyone and getting away with it. I gave a wry smile at that.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but he hasn't." I deadpanned at him and he chuckled once more.

"Talking about him, where is the ball of energy?" He asked looking around.

"It was a… wild weekend. Even he got tired of celebrating." I said with a fond smile as I took a sip of my tea. He nodded with a similar smile of his own.

"Well, on that note. Congratulations, Eiji-kun." He said raising his cup. "It's quite the accomplishment for someone with so little resources to achieve first place in the whole exams, even if they weren't the ones of the end of the year." He praised and I let a pleased smile appear on my face.

"I had good incentive." I shrugged, still grinning.

"Yes, your extra training." He nodded. "It'll be approved tomorrow morning, by the way. Iruka will probably give you a scroll on the topic for you to read before starting with the practical side." He informed me and I nodded, not the least disappointed. I had no rush, any advantage I could get would be good.

"I look forward to it." And after that followed a silence that I couldn't quite decide if it was comfortable or not before it was broken.

"It's good that I got to meet you alone." He started and I looked at him curiously. "I wanted to know if there have been any… problems since the last time. I know now that Naruto would try to keep them a secret if there were." He said, his expression turning serious and mine followed suit. I took a second to consider the question before answering.

"Everything's been fine. Without us having to restock the kitchen, there's very little to be bought, so I can't accurately say how troublesome things would be on that front." I replied with a grimace. "And the… _attention_ we receive on the streets is still the same. I should be able to tell you more in a month at most though." At his raised eyebrow I smiled. "I'll go out to buy Naruto some clothes for his birthday. With some luck, it'll stop him from using that… monstrosity. I'm sure he uses it because it was one of the few things, he could get himself."

"A likely reason, as much as it pains me to admit it." He nodded grimly.

"There's little else to say. We aren't alone for the most part, usually hanging with our friends. So, there's little time for someone to be overly antagonistic. I believe that the… _incident_ was a one-time thing. I hope so, at least."

"We can only hope." He nodded once again while sighing. "Once more, thank you for taking care of him."

"It's what family does." I gave him a small smirk before explaining as he raised an eyebrow. "He calls me Eiji-nii from time to time." He chuckled before looking to the stairs with a fond smile.

"He does tend to come up with terms of endearment for those that acknowledge him." He agreed. "I suppose that makes us family too, doesn't it? As he calls me Jiji, maybe you should call me that too." My only answer was a wan smile. "I shall keep trying, I guess."

"I'm sorry." I said instantly before he waved it off.

"Don't worry. I understand that for some it's difficult to see past the titles." He smiled good-naturedly. "It comes as a breath of fresh air, when someone treats people like me as if we were anyone else. Although, it may be a quirk of my own." He mused. "Either way, it's quite late. I shall make time to visit you and Naruto some other day." And after that he stood up and we walked towards the door together. "Good night, Eiji-kun." He said and I took a deep breath in.

"Good night, Hiruzen." I forced out with a smile. It felt really awkward to call him that, but it was still better than trying to go for Jiji or something of the sort. He smiled at me and I felt some of my nervousness leave me.

'_What a way to finish the weekend.'_ I thought to myself as I closed the door behind me with a sigh. It would be some time before I got used to having the attention of the Hokage on me, that was for sure.

**[}-o-{]**

"Are you sure?" I asked with a confused frown.

"Yes!" Screamed my blond teacher exasperatedly. "I'm sure they are different plants. I've been working here for years for Kami's sake. Can you stop asking questions like that?" She let out a shuddering breath before throwing her hands up. "I need a rest. This is too much." And she stormed off.

Meanwhile, I chuckled to myself as I watched Ino leave the store.

"I have to wonder, why are you annoying her?" The Yamanaka matriarch asked while peeking from behind a shelf, an amused expression on her face.

"She's explaining everything as if I'm a special kind of idiot." I answered awkwardly scratching the back of my head. I hadn't meant to anger her that much, but it really annoyed me to be treated like an idiot. I wouldn't be that bothered if it was an adult. But to be treated so by a child? I had _some_ pride. "I'm no botanist but there's no need to go that far." I tried to defend myself before sighing. "I'm sorry." To my relief, she waved it off.

"Don't worry, I was going to call her on it before you started your little payback." She smirked at me. "Besides, I could be teaching you that. But I also wanted to punish her some. She really should take her work more seriously than she does."

"Good to be of assistance… I think." I replied and she giggled.

"Now, how about I explain while she calms down." She said pointing at the shelves of plants. And at my nod, I continued my 'class'.

Ino's attitude aside, I had found that the plants of this world were really interesting. Or maybe plants were interesting in general but I had never paid them enough attention to notice. They didn't sound as outlandish as everything else seemed to be, after all, even if there _were_ some that seemed to be world exclusive. Like the trees that had a more chakra receptive wood. Those were used to create chakra paper for fuinjutsu as well as buildings that had seals used on them for several reasons. Or the flower that could disturb the chakra usage of a person if it was burned and the smoke was breathed.

I had expected the Yamanaka store to have plants that could be used in poisons and medicines, even if that wasn't mentioned on the show or manga. It was, after all, a somewhat frequent troupe of fanfictions. However, I hadn't expected for it to be a mixture of both.

Turns out that the more combat-oriented part of the shop was a somewhat open secret. It seemed to be a kind of unspoken rule that only shinobi could know about that. Probably due to the fact that only shinobi had access to those plants.

It was halfway through the woman's explanations and instructions that I got the skill that I had been expecting ever since I started 'working'.

**[New Skill Acquired: Gardening Lvl 1]**

**[Gardening – Lvl 1**

**Improves the user's ability to take care of plants according to skill level.]**

'_Nice.'_ I thought to myself containing a smile. I could already see myself with a small garden for poisons and medicines in the future. It would be a nice addition to my arsenal, of that I had no doubt. It had been the whole reason for me taking the that job over a restaurant or something like that. _'Well, almost the whole reason.'_ I thought suppressing a smirk.

"Oh, Ino. Can you continue teaching Eiji-kun? I have to check some things at the back." The woman said with a pleasant smile that just _told_ her daughter that it wasn't really a question. I would have been apologetic for bringing trouble to the girl. But honestly, I had put up with her attitude for far too long. I didn't even know what her problem was, really.

"Of course, mother." Ino said with an almost convincing smile. Almost. I rolled my eyes behind the Yamanaka matriarch.

"Are you going to teach me for real this time or will I have to continue annoying you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as the woman left. If glares could kill, I would have been but a pile of ash on the floor.

"I hate you so much." She muttered through gritted teeth. I rolled my eyes again.

"Just think of it like this." I said taking a deep breath in to help my patience. "If you teach me everything I need to know quickly, you'll get me out of your hair faster." I could almost see the gears turning in her head as she blinked.

"Fine." That she still seemed reluctant made me deadpan at her.

'_This is going to be a long day.'_ I sighed to myself.

**[}-o-{]**

It was an amused me that sat at the house on one of those rare days where everyone but me was busy. Naruto had gone out with Chouji to visit some new Akimichi restaurant, Shikamaru was helping his family with the deer that they took care of and Shino was spending some time with his parents.

So, there was I, amusing myself by reading the scroll Iruka-sensei had given me to get me started on my chakra training. And I said amusing because I had already done all that it mentioned months ago. It described how I should meditate to become aware of my chakra and get a feeling of it. Obviously, it also talked about some other things I wasn't aware of. But the main point, I already knew. I couldn't wait to see his face when I told him that I had already done that part. It was a good thing that meditating wouldn't look too suspicious.

It was at that moment that I once more heard someone knocking at the door. _'Wow, I thought it would take more time for the Hokage to clear his schedule.'_ I thought. After all, it wasn't often that the man got to visit, precisely because of how busy he was with his duties. It would be a shame to tell him that Naruto was, once more, not available.

As I opened the door, I blinked in surprise.

"Err, hello, Inuzuka-san." I greeted awkwardly.

"Hello, Eiji-kun." Hana replied cheerfully before looking at me with a mock-stern expression. "And I told you to call me Hana."

"Of course, come in." I added quickly realizing that my surprise had gotten to me. "Hello, Hai, Ma, Lu." I said slowly taking a moment to differentiate them. Even if it was noticeable, I just couldn't do so instantly. "Do you want something to drink?" I asked, confused about her visit. She shook her head before speaking.

"Well, I just thought you would like to know, we investigated about that ninken you mentioned." She said and my eyebrows rose. What I said guaranteed an investigation?

"Did something happen?" I frowned and she petted one of the brothers with a sad smile.

"She was being abused." I made an effort to keep from showing too much anger. If I hadn't already hated the man before, I would hate him then. There was no excuse for abusing an animal. Much less for an Inuzuka to abuse their partner, I guessed. It was extra bad because it was a dog. I liked dogs, sue me. "It's one of the worst things someone in our clan can do." She nodded, as if pleased by my reaction, what little I showed that is. "And we are currently prosecuting him." The glint in her eyes made me feel vindicated, whatever the Inuzuka did to him, he deserved it, in my eyes at least. "Our clan also wanted to thank you, for informing it. We are even looking into her partner's friends. They couldn't have missed the signs, especially if _you_ noticed. No offense."

"Don't worry. It's true." I waved her off. "Is she going to be ok?" I asked, keeping myself from asking questions about the man.

"She'll be, eventually. For now, she is staying with me. I work as a veterinary medic-nin, by the way. And also, with other recovering and handicapped ninken." She explained before smiling softly. "You are welcome to visit. If anyone should be able to, it should be you." Her smile widened some.

I didn't know how good an idea that was. She _had_ ambushed me together with her partner, after all, I thought wryly. On the other hand, it wasn't really her fault.

"I'll go." I decided. "Where is the place?" I asked with a small grin. "Also… is there something I can prepare to bring there? Food, I mean. To brighten the mood a bit, you know." I explained trying not to sound too awkward and failing. I really liked cooking and, most of all, seeing people enjoy my food. Dogs would have the same effect, if not better, I guessed. All three dogs turned to me and I swear their eyes turned into stars. It was a bit scary, to be honest. Hana simply giggled, whether it was at her ninken or at me, I didn't know.

"Do you have something for me to write on? I'll give you the address and an easy recipe. I would tell you that you don't need to bring anything but…" She pointed at the scandalized looking dogs and giggled once more. I chuckled too, with a grin.

As she wrote, petted the dogs with a relaxed smile. Maybe I would get a normal dog for myself when I was older. If I wasn't too busy doing missions that is. Although…

"Are ninken Inuzuka exclusive?" I asked curiously. And she turned to me with raised eyebrows before an understanding expression took over.

"They aren't, not really." She answered looking uncomfortable before continuing when I rose an eyebrow. "It's just… it's rare. _They_, are the ones to choose partners, after all." She signaled the dogs around me. "And we Inuzuka are much more compatible with them than normal people are." I nodded at her explanation. I wondered how had Kakashi gotten not one but a small pack of ninken for himself if that was the case. He didn't seem particularly similar to an Inuzuka.

"I see. You are a picky bunch, huh?" I said teasingly while scratching Ma's belly as his rear leg kicked the air. "I'll have to make sure that the food is up to your standards, I guess." At that Hai broke his impassive look with an approving bark.

"They will eat anything if its edible. They are gluttons." Hana said drawing annoyed barks from all three ninken and a chuckle from me. "Let's go, we've bothered Eiji-kun enough as it us."

"It's no bother. I like dogs." I reassured her while petting Lu. "You can bring Lu, anytime. The others though…" I have a side-glance at the male dogs. "they aren't as cute." Hai looked away while Ma growled. I smiled at them. "Just joking, you can visit anytime, guys." All three barked happily at me. Really, I should have interacted with Inuzuka earlier. The smarter dogs were just the too cute.

"See you, Eiji-kun."

"See you."

**[}-o-{]**

Besides all that, I finally got my answer as to why I had gotten the new Perk.

**[Leader**

**The user's stats increase by 10% when fighting for or together with a subordinate or ally.]**

Hinata had joined our group on that week's Wednesday. Although, she explained, her father had actually given her permission to join after the exams. We all guessed that it had taken her the other days to gather the courage to approach us about that. All but Naruto, that is. He was clueless like that. It was both amusing and slightly exasperating to watch them interact with each other. What with the way that Hinata's mind seemed to turn off when he came too close or spoke to her too much and the way Naruto couldn't understand just why she acted like that.

Back to the Perk though, my best guess was that the Game considered my little group subordinates or allies, as uncomfortable as thinking with those words made me feel. And my theory was that I had reached some kind of goal to unlock it when Hinata had decided to join, even if she hadn't officially done so. It was either that or something to do with the Inuzuka. But the later made a lot less sense to me, so I went with my theory.

"I knew it would be troublesome." Shika muttered as he made his move before sighing.

"Give it time." I said with a grimace, pointedly avoiding looking at Naruto who was attempting to get Hinata to spar with him. "She'll get over it… eventually."

"Like you getting Naruto to stop wearing orange?" The Nara countered with the smallest of smirks. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"It'll happen." I replied stubbornly.

"Like you winning a match against Shikamaru?" I gave Shino a betrayed look.

"I'll admit, it'll take some time…" I deflated at the stares they gave me. "A long time…" I corrected with a grumble. "But it'll happen. Just you wait."

"Actually, I think you aren't that far from getting your first victory." Shikamaru said while moving another piece. "Although, it won't be today." He smirked as I groaned. He had me in five moves max.

"I don't feel any closer than I was when we started." I grimaced setting the pieces again.

**[Shogi has gone up a level.]**

I ignored the screen. Those had stopped cheering me up a long time ago.

"Fainted." Shino said making us turn to the pair with surprised expressions. I had thought that the fainting was fanfic exaggeration…

"Wow… this'll take longer than I thought." I muttered and received two affirmative hums in response.

"Hinata's thing too."

"Oh, shut up, Shika!" I threw one of the wooden pieces at my smirking friend.

**[}-o-{]**

**Hana PoV**

"What is _he_ doing here?" I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my brother's question and tone.

"He wanted to visit. We told you about what we found after what he told us, didn't we?" I asked, mostly to make him remember our conversation from earlier that week. It still made her blood boil.

An Inuzuka abusing his partner. Just as bad as a husband abusing his wife or a parent abusing their child in their eyes. The _man_, term I used loosely in this case, even had the _gall_ to try to justify his actions. Blaming his partner, saying that she was lazy and that she rebelled against him too often. Lies, pure lies those had been.

We had found the truth easily enough. He was bitter. Extremely bitter about losing his last partner during the Kyuubi attack together with several members of his family. That had quickly led to finding that he had been the one to attack the Uzumaki's apartment some time ago. He had been smart enough to erase anything that would point to him from the scene. He had been _stupid _enough to take a trophy from the kid's home though.

Disgusting, that's what he was. Nothing else.

He would never have a ninken partner ever again, for all intents and purposes, he wasn't an Inuzuka anymore. The clan would regard him with more hostility than they would an Iwa-nin. He was a pariah to the clan, forever disgraced.

And that wasn't even mentioning the charges from the attack. Targeting the villages Jinchuriki wasn't a small matter. That's why no one had actually done anything despite their hatred until now. Nobody wanted to face that punishment. He wouldn't get any mercy though nor would he get support from the clan, considering everything else.

It was poetic that the one to bring all that to light was the Uzumaki's best friend. Several people had narrowed their eyes at that part, but there was just no way for the kid to know about his involvement in the attack on his friend's apartment.

"Right…" Kiba grudgingly accepted her explanation. She ignored his mood in favor of looking as the dogs all but buried the poor red-eyed boy trying to get to his food. She loved her brother, but he had started to get the alpha-syndrome as the Inuzuka called it. His case was especially bad as he was to be Head of the clan.

It would have been her and, for all intents and purposes, it _should _have been her. However, she had found her calling at the veterinary, looking after the injured ninken and those that simply couldn't go back to the field. And thus, the position of heir had been passed to her brother.

To add fuel to the fire, he had held onto a pretty good position at the Academy, only behind the last Uchiha and only competing with the Aburame heir for second place, on the males' side, at least. That had gone to his head and ended up with him dismissing their mother's training, believing that he could do well by himself at the start of the year.

It was a good thing that he had received a slap of reality soon while he was still at the village and not later while outside on a mission.

"You gave him an Inuzuka recipe?" Her little brother asked incredulously, almost making her roll her eyes again.

"They aren't clan secrets, you know?" She replied dismissively. "It's not like I told him how to make ninken soldier pills."

"But… still…" He sputtered.

"Wow," the new voice broke them from their conversation as they turned to the guest, that was still surrounded by dogs. One was even perching himself on his shoulder. "I thought I had made quite a bit." Eiji commented with a wry expression.

"These rascals never have enough." I reassured him. "You could have brought two or three time as much and it wouldn't make a difference." Several ninken barked in protest. It _would_ have made a difference. They would have enjoyed themselves more. She rolled her eyes at them.

"I'll try to bring more next time." He told the dogs apologetically. Receiving several tongues to the face as a response. I giggled at the sight. It was always nice to see them being cheerful. Not many came to visit, I thought suppressing a sad smile.

"You are going to make my job more difficult." I said sternly, not meaning a word of it. "It's difficult enough to keep them in line as it is, you know?"

"Sorry?" He apologized scratching the back of his neck.

"Wait, next time?" Kiba interrupted scandalized.

"Yeah… err… I _can_ visit again, can't I?" He asked a few of the dogs jumped on top of him affectionately while some others growled at Kiba. Yeah, the boy wasn't doing himself any favors. I shook my head, he had been really bitter, especially with the Satou as he was the one that crashed his delusion the most.

"Of course, you can. As long as you don't cause any trouble, I can let you see them." I reassured with a smile. Having someone to cheer the ninken up a bit would be a boon. Not to mention the food. They were really bottomless pits, the whole lot of them.

"You hear that, guys." He said cheerfully while petting the ninken that was the reason for his visit in the first place. Their meeting had been a bit rocky at the start. She had been even more nervous than normal around him but after a few whispered words from the boy she had been more open than she was with anyone else. It had baffled me, really.

"I can't believe this." Kiba grumbled before making his way out. I sighed as the door closed before turning and giggling as the cubs tried to drag Eiji away from the older dogs to play. All the while, the poor boy tried to calm them down and failed miserably.

It seemed that things would be much livelier from now on.

**[}-o-{]**

**Eiji's PoV**

The last surprise of the week came as I arrived him from my visit to Yuki, Kobu's ex-ninken. It had been a nice day, if a tiring one. I should have known that a bunch of ninja dogs would be tireless, especially considering that several of them couldn't leave the place after being rendered unable to go to the field. It was a really sad realization, that one. I would make sure to visit as much as possible. Even if it would kill my wallet to try and cook enough for them. I had a job now and didn't need to worry about _my_ food anyway.

I paused and blinked at the stack of papers on the table.

"Naruto? What did I tell you about leaving your homework around?" I exclaimed annoyed. There was no response. "Put all this away so we can eat, will you? I'm making ramen." I blinked again as he didn't immediately come down running. I had already used that to get his attention several times and never seemed to lose effect even if I _didn't_ cook ramen in the end. There was only one explanation.

Naruto wasn't home yet.

Warily, I walked to the papers and looked at them. The words on the topmost sheet made me take a deep breath in.

_Good job._

Picking them up nervously, I started reading. The first pages talked about what I had done, analyzing, criticizing and even _grading_ all our plans for revenge. From our first decisions to how we started biding our time, improving, and preparing. Shikamaru's decision of having me continue my mapping hobby away from the Inuzuka clan so that I had an alibi, even if a weak one, and my decision of starting my job at the Yamanaka to know some poisons seemed to get the best comments.

However, the thing that was praised the most was how everything had been resolved. Improvising and, most importantly, making someone else deal with Kobu.

I felt so very weird reading the… report.

After that came information on Kobu. Everything that had been found out, the prosecution and results. Even what had happened to his friends was there. I felt a satisfied grin form on my face as I read his punishment.

And then I arrived to the last sheet and my eyebrows rose. There was a reward, apparently, for a job well done. I couldn't even begin to know what to think about that. But it was there. It told me about a shop, where I could go and buy whatever and however much I wanted free of charge, up to a maximum, of course.

'_Well, Danzo,'_ I thought to myself. Setting the papers down and seeing how they crumbled to dust instantly. _'I don't know what you are playing at. But, for now, …'_

"Thank you."

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, this chapter came a lot faster than the last one, didn't it? I want to make a special mention to some reviewers: _Idea Tamer Chaos, ehbon172_ and an extra special mention to _RandomPasserby (guest)_. I don't want to make other reviews seem like less, because they aren't, but I've found myself coming back to read your comments several times. Thank you, really.

Now, onto the chapter.

We've finished **Kobu's plot**. I talked about this on previous notes, but my characters just don't like following my plans. Hell, I hadn't even planned for Kobu to be a thing, but then he just appeared and did his shit. And it was fine (you know what I mean) and so, I made new plans around him. But then the Inuzuka came and ruined all my carefully planed revenge by taking care of the asshole on their own. (I explained a bit of what was going to happen on the last scene, just to make me feel like all that planning wasn't for nothing *cries in a corner*)

Oddly enough, I don't feel like commenting on any of the other parts of the chapter.

**Random Question:** What part of the chapter you liked the most and why? If you didn't like any part of it then… err… sorry?

**Random Question 2:** What do you think happened to Kobu? I quite liked leaving that part open to imagination and would like to read how you filled that part in your heads.

**See you.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 14**

"Now, close your eyes." Iruka-sensei said calmly and I did as told. "Concentrate on the feeling of your chakra as we talked before." I let my mind wander freely until it got a grasp on the warm and tingly feeling of my chakra. A small smile formed on my face as the hairs on my arms stood and a shiver of excitement traveled through my body. "Now, try to affect it. Remember, a little at a time."

And so, my actual chakra training started. My whole attention moved towards the flowing of the energy inside me and how I could affect it without going overboard. I expanded the river of life-force on random spots by mere millimeters at first. And then I started working from there. If I wasn't careful with the chakra _still_ inside of me then I could blow myself up and if I wasn't careful with the chakra _outside_ of me then I would waste it all. That's why being capable of sensing chakra was a requirement for teachers at the Academy. They needed to be able to tell if a student was about to mess up in order to stop them.

"Now, focus on this and get a hold of it with the chakra." Iruka said softly and I felt something press against my forehead. A leaf, most probably. But that wasn't important. The important part was getting the energy to move and stick it to my skin. Because, contrary to what one would expect, chakra couldn't be commanded or forced. It could only be _controlled_, and the term was used loosely.

I all but had to _ask_ my chakra to do as I wanted. For the last week, as I tried to get a feel of it and affect it a little, I had quickly compared it to trying to get your blood to move at will. It sounded impossible, and it _was_ at the start. But slowly, mind prevailed over matter in this case, and my life force started listening to me, if not subserviently.

Slowly, my chakra grazed the leaf not even enough to be called a touch. Carefully, I repeated that, each time a bit longer with more force, until I got a good feel of it and then changed the approach. From touching to holding. It was a strange concept, to be honest. Like trying to imitate Spiderman and stick to a wall, but with the actual possibility of it and with my forehead.

"Good job." Sensei praised and my concentration slipped together with the leaf. "Again." He prompted calmly and I went at it again, my smile turning into a full-on grin. Working with my chakra felt awesome, no matter how simple it was.

And so, I went at it for half an hour before I felt myself utterly exhausted. Opening my eyes when Iruka told me that we were done for the day, I smiled tiredly while looking at the screens in front of me.

**[Basic Chakra Control Exercises – Lvl 1**

**Increases the chakra control of the user according to level.]**

**[Chakra Points: 50/200]**

"Thank you so much for your time, sensei." I said while bowing.

"Don't mention it, Eiji. We had a deal, remember?" He waved off good-naturedly and I smiled at him. "Now, go, I really want to get back home sometime today." He added with a smirk and I snorted.

"Sorry about that, sensei." I bowed again. "See you tomorrow." And after receiving his goodbyes, I walked out of the classroom, tired but also feeling extremely proud of myself. I had reached a milestone. And what milestone was more important in the Narutoverse than starting using chakra? None, in my opinion.

"Fucking finally." I groaned. _'There goes my good mood.'_ I thought with a grimace as I turned to Kiba once out of the Academy. I was just about to tell him where he could go when I stopped and blinked.

"Don't be annoying, mutt." Grumbled Sasuke from where he stood, on the other side of the entrance, leaving me between him and Kiba. I looked at both of them for a minute before sighing. Good thing that Naruto would be out with Chouji until late.

"I'm too tired to deal with you, Kiba." I grumbled.

"Hey, and what about the emo-jerk?!" He asked outraged and I groaned again.

"Just… shut up. Let's go somewhere else. I need a drink and possibly something to eat." I said tiredly as I dragged my feet through the streets. Sasuke calmly fell into step next to me while I heard Kiba grumble something under his breath before following, stomping his feet all the way.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked, not sounding particularly interested.

"I'm going back to home. If you have a problem with it you can just leave." I said bluntly and the Uchiha simply shrugged as a response.

"No, no way." Kiba shook his hands in denial. "I just wanted to say that…" I stopped walking and stared as the Inuzuka fidgeted with his hands. "… that I'm sorry. Alright? I'll apologize to Naruto later too." He added quickly when I went to speak and I nodded. He sounded much more honest this time than he had been before.

"Good, just stop being a dick and we are good." I replied. I had considered his situation and could kinda understand how someone like him became so increasingly frustrated with his situation. He was still a bit of an idiot for rejecting his mother's training and developing too big an ego, but that was about it.

"Right… so… good bye." He said awkwardly before turning and leaving, not waiting for me to say anything. I shook my head with a chuckle before starting my way back home, again.

"I wanted to know if it would be alright for me to… join your group's training." Sasuke admitted slowly as we walked through the village and I tilted my head. Honestly, I had started to doubt he would ever want to join. But I guess I judged his character wrong. It wasn't much of a shock though, I had grown used to people in this world surprising me, as weird as that sounded.

"Sure." I replied instantly and he turned to me with slightly wide eyes.

"Just… like that?" He asked before frowning in confusion.

"Why would I have a problem with it?" I asked instead with an amused smile.

"Because I… don't get along with Naruto?" He frowned even more, like he couldn't understand what I was saying. I had to make conscious effort not to laugh at it.

"Understatement of the century." I _did_ snort though. It was kind of funny. "But still, it's not the same as with Kiba. He openly insults him. You are just too good." I explained which seemed to confuse him even more. "He just doesn't like that you are very good in what we are training and also all the attention you get."

"O…kay?" He replied slowly, still not completely understanding, I guessed.

"Doesn't matter." I waved the topic off. "Point is, it won't be a problem. Just don't insult anyone that doesn't insult you first and we'll be alright."

"I can do that." He accepted, although he looked pensive. "What are you working on?"

"We decide it on the spot, really." I shrugged and he frowned. "We usually do some stealth training after classes by following a teacher on their way back. We also work in our Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu at home, Shika and I play Shogi every chance we get… oh, and I go around the village free running from time to time too."

"Why did you mention Shogi?" He asked confused.

"Strategic training, although we do it mostly for fun." I admitted with a grin. He, for his part, simply nodded seriously.

"Then, I'll join your training… if it's not too much trouble." He added the last part like it was a particularly difficult thing to do. I simply smiled. He really wasn't used to normal interactions.

"Sure thing. Just come with us after classes, that's when we decide what we do."

"Right. See you tomorrow, then." He stopped walking but didn't go away and I looked at him for a second before he spoke again. "Thank you." He gave me a slight bow.

"Don't mention it. See you tomorrow." And we went our separate ways.

Life could certainly be interesting.

**[}-o-{]**

"Good afternoon, everyone!" I greeted as usual and received Noriko's reply instantly. Ino, for her part, did something out of the routine. She smiled warmly at me and retuned the gesture animatedly. I smiled wide and bright before speaking. "I won't help you with Sasuke." I told her with my best happy voice.

The girl instantly shut her mouth, effectively keeping what she had been about to say to herself, and frowned. Then she huffed and returned to doing nothing behind the counter.

People in this world liked to surprise me, but some were still predictable. Thank Kami for that.

**[}-o-{]**

"Good afternoon, everyone!" I called out and was instantly tackled to the ground by the biggest dog in the veterinary, who was quickly followed by a bunch of puppies. The sound of giggles could be heard in the background. "At least let me lay down the food, guys!" I tried to push the dog off of me uselessly. "A little help here?" I asked pleadingly only for the bags to be taken out of my hands.

I was left to my fate, being licked all over the face by overenthusiastic dogs and puppies.

I definitely wasn't grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey there, Yuki." I greeted the black and white dog with a smile when I was finally allowed to sit up. She replied with an enthusiastic bark and I booped her. She shook her head before glaring at me. "I brought extra food." I said instantly making her return to her happy self.

I grinned as she went with the others and started eating.

"_I don't blame you."_ I remembered my words from our first meeting when I saw her so extremely nervous to meet me. _"You did as he told you to. It was his fault, not yours."_ That and many reassuring smiles and petting had finally gotten her to open to me. And I couldn't be happier about it.

"You didn't have to bring _more_ food, you know?" Hana commented when I managed to stand up despite a few stubborn puppies lingering next to me.

"I just love seeing them so happy." I shrugged looking over the group before bending down so I could pet the young dogs at my feet. In hindsight, maybe I should have stayed on the floor.

**[}-o-{]**

**1 Month Later**

"You mean there's more presents than this?!" Naruto asked in awe as he looked over the different kinds of ramen I made for his birthday. I took the moment of distraction on his part to show the displeasure I felt on my face. Shikamaru and Shino joined with a scowl and an angry buzz respectively. Chouji almost growled too. But this wasn't about our anger, this was about making Naruto's birthday great, for once.

"Yeah, but we'll eat first…" I trailed off and blinked as I saw five bowls already empty. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath in, I send a suffering glance towards the others who gave me pitying looks. So much hard work… and it disappeared so fast…

'_This is for Naruto.'_ I told myself encouragingly. Damnit, I had spent half a day preparing all that. I felt a pat on my shoulder and I turned to Shika with a grimace.

"It's just once a year, Eiji." He said nodding solemnly and I nodded.

"Once a year, right." That did indeed make me feel better about it. "Anyway, let's eat before he leaves us with nothing… again." I added in a grumble and he snorted. As I looked over Naruto's positively ecstatic expression, I felt much better about my afternoon cooking.

The day had gone pretty calmly so far. We had celebrated a bit at Ichiraku's during lunch time and we had decided after the Academy that we would go straight home. I was really grateful to the Yamanaka's for letting me off for the day. I had promised to help during a weekend in exchange even if they were alright with it either way. The others had offered their house but Naruto had decided that he wanted to celebrate in his one true home. Those words still brought a smile to my face a few hours later.

The whole group had joined, except Sasuke. The Uchiha hadn't had any trouble interaction with anyone, even if Naruto and him still bickered a lot. However, the Uchiha only viewed our get togethers as extra training, even after a month of them. Like the Academy away from the Academy. He never joined our Shogi games or any other game for that matter though. He only wanted to throw himself at Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu training, which was fine for everyone. Except for my brother, since he saw it as Sasuke thinking himself better than the rest of us.

Anyway, eventually, and quite fast too, everyone was full. I took that as a personal victory, one can never know how stressful cooking is until you have to cook for an Akimichi and Naruto. The sheer quantity of food that they could make disappear was entirely unfair. So, seeing food on the table when they said they were done was a rare occurrence.

"You outdid yourself, Eiji." Chouji complemented while Naruto simply gave me a thumbs up from where he laid almost on a food coma. I was sure my expression was just as smug as it had been when I beat Sasuke.

"Thank you for the food, Eiji-kun." Hinata shyly nodded at me and I gave her a bright smile. She was much better than when we first met. She only seemed to get nervous when Naruto was involved someway now. Progress was progress, however small it was.

"At this rate, you could open a restaurant and earn more than as a ninja. It would certainly be less troublesome." Shikamaru pointed out lazily laying his head on a hand.

"Yeah, but someone has to take care of you all, right?" I smirked at him and he shook his head with a roll of his eyes.

"The help is appreciated, Eiji." Shino nodded seriously and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Anyway, maybe we can leave the presents for later, seeing as Naruto is out of it." I commented and the blond instantly sat up. My lips twitched.

"Presents?" The boy asked, looking like even talking was painful due to how much he had eaten. And chuckled silently as I turned around.

"We'll have to leave it for tomorrow, everyone." I said mock seriously.

"That's a pity." Shino nodded solemnly and stood up to pick his present. "I'll bring it tomorrow then." I had to give it to him. He joked so rarely that when he did it was difficult to see through him. Not that it would have been difficult for Naruto to fall for it.

"No, no." Naruto burped while pulling himself together. "I'm alright. I can open them right now."

"Are you sure?" I asked in faux concern. "There's no need to overexert yourself. Just go to sleep." I said reassuringly.

"E-Eiji-kun shouldn't tease N-Naruto-kun so m-much." Hinata pointed out not looking at anyone in particular. In other circumstances, I would have teased her. But I really wanted to help her be more confident, so I stopped myself.

"You ruin my fun entirely too much, Hinata." I scowled for a second before smiling at her to let her know I was joking. "Anyway, come over here you, idiot." I wrapped an arm around Naruto who instantly started grinning. "Who wants to go first?"

"I guess I'll be first." Shino answered as he was already standing and holding his present. "Shikamaru and I decided in a somewhat joint present so…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Said Nara stood up grumbling as he picked up his present from a table I had set at the entrance. "Here." He extended it towards the blond.

"A book?" Naruto tilted his head curiously and I couldn't help but do the same. A book wasn't something you normally thought to give the Uzumaki, to be honest. "Trapping?" He asked, not looking put out by the book and I raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru.

"Most of those can be turned into pranks. I checked." He sent a small smirk our way and I grinned. That sounded much more like Naruto's thing. My brother seemed to agree wholeheartedly.

"Awesome!" He turned towards the Aburame with excited eyes. And instantly teared through the paper that wrapped the present.

"Trapping tools and supplies." He explained instantly as Naruto opened the wooden box that contained everything.

"You are both great, guys!" He wrapped an arm around the each of them. "Just for that, you are safe. Everyone else should look out because-" I coughed into my hand as I let loose a little of my passive Bloodlust, I had gotten the hang of not using Energy easily enough, even if it was much less effective. He sweated for a bit before correcting himself. "And Eiji too, of course." He nervously added and I let out an innocent smile.

"My turn." Chouji called out as he finally managed to stand from his chair. Putting a hand on his pocket he pulled out a few pieces of paper and extended them to Naruto who quickly read through it before his eyes widened. "Yep," The Akimichi confirmed. "a reservation for all of us in the place you wanted to try out, Naruto."

Quickly reading over Naruto's shoulder, I noticed that it was indeed one of the many places that the blonde wanted to visit. There were several in that list, from the many food debates that he and Chouji had had over the time we had met, but that one stood out due to the Akimichi saying that it had a pretty good ramen. Naruto really wanted to know how it compared to Ichiraku. It was a very expensive place though, fortunately the reserve had the food included. I gave Chouji an appreciative smile as Naruto thanked him profusely.

"Don't mention it, my dad asked for me and they quickly agreed. We didn't even have to pay, to be honest." He scratched his cheek embarrassedly.

"Still, this is awesome, Chouji!"

"Hmm, m-my turn, I-I guess…" Hinata fidgeted with the present in her hands while biting her lower lip. It looked really adorable, to be honest. Finally gathering her courage, she extended it towards Naruto who promptly took it and, for once, carefully opened it.

My eyes opened wide as I looked at the red scarf in Naruto's hand. As my gaze darted towards my brother, I noticed that he had the same reaction before he snapped his head towards the Hyuuga.

"I… Thank you, Hinata." He said with a soft smile that was very rare in Naruto. It brought a grin to my own face just to see it.

"D-Don't mention it." The girl touched the tip of her fingers together. "I-It isn't m-much but-"

"No, it's great." The boy reassured with a much more normal wide grin that had the poor girl blushing up a storm with small but quite happy smile. In the end she simply hummed before going back to her chair, probably to calm herself.

"And last, but not least…" I said dramatically as I waved towards the table. My gift was quite 'big', in a way. He looked in awe at the table before he started opening the bags on top of it.

I had taken a trip towards the shop that I had been pointed towards for my 'reward' and found out that it had a _lot_ of things. From clothes, to equipment, to… well, pretty much everything that a ninja could need, even things that weren't quite for the job. There, I had spent as much as I could to buy clothes both for Naruto and myself.

For him I concentrated mostly in black or blue pants and shirts that were mostly in shades of orange. I didn't have any hopes of getting him to stop wearing orange altogether, so I would take what I could. At least these clothes were a bit more… fashionable than the jumper and pants he used. I had also bought something else though.

"And this too." I said pulling a small package from my pocket and offering it to the boy, who was looking in awe at an assortment of orange shirts with different designs on the fronts or backs, especially one that had the Uzumaki swirl in black on the chest.

He was surprisingly slow while taking the last present and opening it, but eventually he pulled out a silver chain with a simple pendant shaped like a yin yang symbol but in red and blue instead of black and white.

"I thought it fitting." I commented trying to reign down my nervousness. I had never been good at choosing presents, and it was difficult to tell just _when_ I did it right since everyone accepted whatever I gave them with a smile that could easily be out of pity before I died. "Because, you know…" I pointed awkwardly at my eyes and his widened in understanding before he turned back to the necklace and grinned.

"It's great, brother." His voice was so moved that I couldn't help but give him my own version of his normal grin. I was really glad.

**[}-o-{]**

**Naruto PoV**

"It's really great, you know?" I commented, looking transfixed at the necklace Eiji had gifted me while sitting on the couch. My _brother_, with emphasis because it had never felt so real as in that moment, was organizing everything after everyone went back home. He had steadfastly refused to let me help, but I still felt bad just going to bed while he worked so, I just stayed there, sitting and talking to him.

"I'm really glad that you think so, Naruto." Eiji replied while washing the dishes. "But if you say it so much it feels like you are trying to convince me and yourself."

"I just…" I stammered before taking a calming breath in. "I know I've been calling you brother for some time now. But all that time I just thought that it was just me." I admitted feeling a bit ashamed. I had thought that he was just putting up with me. After all, who would like to be the brother of someone so troublesome… Kami, I sounded like Shikamaru now.

"Idiot." I instantly grimaced. "You are my brother, Naruto." I looked over to the kitchen and saw that he had put the bowls aside and he had turned towards me too. "That's a fact and it's never going to change." I blinked quickly before simply grinning so wide that I had to close my eyes. It helped a lot to keep the tears in check.

"Thanks, brother." I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. It was a close thing. And, just as I was about to speak again, we heard a knock at the door. "Wonder who that is?" I wondered as I stood up, Eiji was busy, after all. "Jiji!" I shouted excitedly hugging the old man that simply chuckled good-naturedly. "You made it!"

"I'm glad I could make it, yes." The man that I had grown to see as a grandfather smiled at me as I invited him in. It felt so much better to have a decent place for him to visit contrary to what the small apartment given to me had been.

"Hiruzen, good to see you." I resisted the urge to either roll my eyes or deadpan at Eiji. He had some real problems addressing people informally. Even our friend's parents, who we had been seeing for a long time already. "I'll get you a cup of tea." At least he seemed to be opening up a little lately.

"That would be appreciated, Eiji."

"You wouldn't believe the things I got, Jiji." I finally couldn't contain myself enough and started showing the old man my presents. Because… you know? I had _presents_!

Shino and Shikamaru's presents were awesome! Just thinking about all the traps that I could turn into pranks made me want to start reading already. Which Eiji would take advantage of to make me read other things or, Kami forbid, _study_. I shuddered as my brother handed out a cup to Jiji, who was giving me his usual indulgent smile. I didn't care enough to point it out. I did see a flash of something else while I told him about my presents though. I wondered what that was.

Then there was Chouji's gift that was just all kinds of awesome! I could care less about fancy places, but everyone liked them for a reason. And any place that made Ramen was a place that deserved respect. Especially if it was good Ramen as I had been told.

And Hinata's gift… I had honestly, and embarrassingly, forgotten about that time I helped her out. And knowing that she remembered and all… I didn't even know what I felt about that. But it was nice… very nice.

And then it was Eiji's gift. I'll admit, he was kinda right about why I used the clothes I used… but I really liked orange! So, I was really grateful for his gift and really glad that he had still kept the orange a priority.

But… the necklace… The necklace just stole the whole show! It was… I didn't even know how to describe it. But it felt like making the fact that we were brothers real. I had to blink away some tears before they while looking down at the pendant that I had been showing Jiji and quickly grin at him while closing my eyes.

"On that note," The old man's smile widened. "I brought my own present too." He and Eiji chuckled at my expression. "I've seen you progress a lot this year, Naruto, and I'm really glad about it." I scratched the back of my head embarrassedly. It really wasn't much. Eiji had been the one to drill me in the boring theory after all. And everyone had helped my Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu.

I blinked as Jiji brought out a book and I felt a pit of dread forming on my stomach. He didn't expect me to study more, did he? I gulped.

"This… is part of your legacy, Naruto."

"Huh?" I asked instantly and Eiji turned with wide eyes.

"Well, not exactly. But it's a start." The old man quickly corrected himself.

"Legacy?" I asked confused.

"From your parents." My head suddenly felt very faint. I had obviously asked Jiji about my family before. But he had always said that he didn't know. What… what was going on?

"But you said-"

"I know what I said, Naruto." His face turned into a pained expression that, despite what was happening, I couldn't help but feel bad about. "But you have to understand, that I couldn't tell you back then." Jiji looked very old at that moment, I noticed.

"W… Why?" I breathed out after a moment before feeling a hand on my shoulder and turned to look into Eiji's red eyes.

"Breath, Naruto." He said softly and I took a deep breath in. It helped a bit. "I'm here." That helped a lot more, actually. I smiled weakly at him before we both turned to the Hokage.

"Your parents were… very known, in the village and outside of it." He said slowly and I nodded with a frown. "They were heroes of the village, actually." I felt a small happy smile take over my face before my scowl deepened. Then why-? "But that means that they made enemies out of almost everyone else." He grimaced and I did the same. Yeah… that made some sense. Eiji had explained to me how some of our idols weren't seen as such by other villages. Like the Shodaime, even if he was respected, it didn't mean that he was liked. Or how the Yondaime was the worst thing in the world for Iwa, it made a lot of sense once he explained.

"Can I know now…?" I trailed off as I felt a knot form on my throat. The pained expression coming back to Jiji's face didn't make me feel better.

"I'd rather not… but I will tell you, if you really want to know." He said, speaking very slowly. As I went to speak, I felt a squeeze on my shoulder and turned to Eiji. He gave me a small sad smile.

"Maybe you should ask why he doesn't want to tell you?" He asked carefully and I frowned. And then I stopped to think. Jiji had been great. He had always cared. He wasn't bad. But… But… "He said he would tell you if you wanted, remember." Right… Jiji didn't want to keep it a secret from me… At least, not completely. Right…

"Thank you…" I whispered and his grin widened some. And I returned it to him as best I could. Eiji was really the best.

"Anytime, brother." He replied instantly and my smile grew even more.

"Why, Jiji?" I asked simply and the old man took a deep breath in.

"Because you were… too boisterous." I felt a stab in my chest at those words. "It isn't that bad a thing, really. But I couldn't have you announcing to everyone who your parents are." I nodded slowly, it made… some sense.

"And now…"

"You haven't changed much." He said, and I was surprised that he did so with a fond smile. "But that has focused mostly in your little group." He added that looking at both Eiji and me. "I'm confident that you wouldn't tell anyone besides them if I told you." That was… probably right. It was annoying and embarrassing to accept, but I would probably blurt it out to them eventually. "So, do you want to know?" He asked, not looking like he _really_ cared about my answer.

And I considered it. Knowing my parents had been one of the things I wished the most while growing up. I wanted a connection to something… _someone_. But, at that moment, I realized that… it didn't really matter. I had my own connections now. I had Jiji, my grandfather. Teuchi-jisan and Ayame-neechan, my uncle and cousin. And, I turned to my side to see a supporting smile, Eiji, my brother.

Finding out about my family didn't sound that important anymore. It was important, of course. But if Jiji wanted to keep it a secret… he had to have reasons. And considering that they weren't around, they were either dead or…

That was something I had to know…

"Did they love me?" I managed to whisper nervously. Because if they had left me because they hated me like-

"You were the most important thing in the world for them." Jiji answered instantly and without a doubt. I felt a now familiar warm feeling inside my chest and smiled before it was quickly splashed with the cold realization that my parents were dead. I had known… but at the same time…

"I can wait then…" I nodded even if I felt sad about having to wait. The old man's face seemed to fill itself with both pride and pain. "What was this about a legacy?" That had helped me decide too. Even if I didn't know them, now I knew they loved me and I would have a connection even if I didn't have names.

"This is a book about calligraphy and how to develop it." He explained and I frowned. "It's a great first step towards Fuinjutsu, which is an art that both your parents were exceptional at." I blinked. I knew that one. It was an elective for next year… Now I knew for sure one of my choices, I grinned as I took the book from him and stared at it.

"I'll be the best Fuinjutsu user ever, believe it, Jiji!" I exclaimed while grinning. I didn't even know what they could do, but if both my parents were famous and they were both great at it, then it must be cool. I was definitely learning it.

"I look forward to it, Naruto."

"And then I'll get that hat off your head, Jiji, just you wait." I added with a peace sign.

"I look forward to that even more." The old man's smile widened.

This was definitely the best birthday ever. I was sure.

**[}-o-{]**

All the excitement of the day had finally gotten to Naruto and he had gone to sleep. Meanwhile, I was _still_ tidying up the place. Just as I finished, I let out a tired sigh. It had been a long day, full of cooking and then partying. So, I just wanted to go to bed and-

I froze just as I set foot in the dining room.

A few folders neatly laid on a side of the table. For a split second my mind went back to when Naruto forgot his homework, or I did. But that made no sense considering what had been going on during the day and that I had just tidied the place. It also reminded me of a scene from a month ago.

'_What are you playing at?'_ I couldn't help but echo my thoughts from back then.

Warily, I sat at the table and opened the folders, deciding that I may as well read them. I could have left them there, but what was the worst a few folders could do? And sure enough, the content wasn't dangerous per se, but it _was_ worrying.

Inside were proposals from the civilian side of the Council. One proposed lowering the taxes for shops and the other lowering the prices for escort missions for goods. It made me frown, but I reassured myself in the fact that it described enough for me to know what it was about and not enough to feel like I was reading confidential information.

And as I finished the files, I looked up and saw a note in front of me, away from the other papers.

'_What do you think?'_ It read simply. I stared at it for a long moment before noticing that there was a blank sheet and something to write set on the table too. I had stopped being surprised about things appearing on the table by then.

I spent a good deal of time looking over the proposals. I didn't have the foggiest about why someone (possibly but not surely Danzo) wanted me to read this and give my opinion. But I owed a debt to them. I would have never known who had attacked Naruto's apartment without them and without _that_, there was no guarantee that Kobu would have been punished.

And it was a very small thing, considering the things I had expected to be asked to do if my suspicions were right.

Slowly, I started counting the pros and cons of each as I saw it. How the reduced taxes could affect overall economy of the village and the funding of things like the Academy while the reduced prices for missions would affect Shinobi in general, potentially reducing their progress by making them struggle to gather as much money as they otherwise would.

Eventually, as I started running out of things to point out. A new file appeared. This was a proposal from the Shinobi side of the Council. It detailed how they wanted to relocate more funds towards the civilian ran R&D that supplied Shinobi.

There was no question asked but I got the gist of it. The Shinobi side needed the favor of the Civilian side to approve the third proposal, which meant accepting one of the other two. I looked over my pros and cons sheet. In the end, it was an easy decision. If the taxes were reduced, there would be even less money to work with. Lower mission prices would affect Shinobi but they would, potentially, be helped by the R&D improvement.

It wasn't perfect but there was no perfect that I could see. It was simply a choice between two bad choices to push a good one forward.

And as I was about to write my conclusion, I stopped and frowned.

My hand extended to the side and picked up a folder. Slowly and carefully, I went over the proposal again. Turning my 'answer sheet' around, I wrote that if I had to decide between one of the two Civilian propositions to push the Shinobi one forward, I would choose neither and give up on the latter.

Without actual numbers and more information, I couldn't reasonably decide to cut into someone's earnings. I had no way of knowing if it would have disastrous results on the affected party, be it Shinobi or the System. For all I knew, both could affect badly on both sides.

With a tired sigh, I organized everything back in a neat pile and pushed it towards the middle of the table with the answer sheet on top of everything.

A second later, it disappeared.

Tiredly, I stood up and went for a glass of water. I could really use after whatever that had been. I didn't expect, however, to find something else waiting for me in the papers' place.

A scroll sat innocently in the previously occupied space with a small note stuck to it.

_Good job._

It was a scroll about how to use fuuma shuriken.

I grinned. _'Well, that wasn't too bad. And I definitely can use this.'_ I instantly decided to save it as discreetly as possibly inside my Inventory. If someone asked about the thing, I would deny having it. Just in case. But I needed to be very careful about it since I _knew_ they had me under vigilance, strict vigilance it appeared. They had known almost everything I had been doing against Kobu after all.

'_I'm suddenly very grateful for making friends with parents so high up.'_ I thought to myself. At least that way nobody could just disappear me. I massaged my temples.

I would never regret doing the things I did though. I put a weak smile on my face as I thumbed the necklace that rested behind my shirt. It had a pendant with a blue and red version of the yin yang symbol.

'_Live life to the fullest.'_ I told myself as I went upstairs towards me room.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Were the Ino and the Dog scenes completely unnecessary? Yes, they were. But I regret nothing.

What I do have serious doubts about are both the Naruto-Hiruzen scene and the Danzo Test scene. But, I can't, right now, think of any way to improve them.

Some may have noticed, but I stopped using the 'Eiji-nii' thing and started simply using 'brother' instead. Several people pointed out that despite everything else they _are_ the same age, physically at least, and that makes things weird.

**Random Question 1:** Someone asked for me to post something with all the stats and skills and the like. I've been keeping a close eye on everything's progress even if it isn't mentioned as much lately. I can easily post chapter 15 with all this info and continue the story in chapter 16. Would you like that?

**Random Question 2:** I'm thinking about making a quick forward for a few months until the start of their next year with a bunch of scenes of what goes on in that time. Or I could continue doing mini-time skips of a month at a time like I've been doing. What do you think?

**See you.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

**Chapter 15**

"Wow, this is easier than I thought!"

"I hate you, Naruto…" I grumbled to myself as I eyed the disaster that was my calligraphy attempts. Turns out that writing with a brush is difficult, who would have thought, right? I could barely tell what I had tried to do with half the kanji in the paper. My eyes moved towards the one in front of Naruto and suddenly I knew how the blonde must have felt when I used Running at the Academy. His writing was already pretty damn good and we had just started.

"It's just that I'm the best, believe it!" He gave me a grin and a peace sign and I returned him a weary smile. I was glad that he had something he was really good at though. Who knows? Maybe all those Seal Master Naruto were right after all.

"Still," I decided to burst his bubble quickly before it got too big. "it's not perfect. You'll have to continue practicing."

"Sure thing. I'll have this down in a minute, just you wait," He boasted before biting his tongue and frowning at the paper while wielding the brush. With a sigh, I followed his example for a minute before a screen finally appeared.

**[New Skill Acquired: Calligraphy Lvl 1]**

**[Calligraphy – Lvl 1**

**Improves the user's writing by 5%.]**

'_Well, something to replace Cartography for when I don't feel like training physically, I guess,'_ I mused to myself before suppressing a groan as yet another unintelligible character appeared on the sheet.

My maps where already pretty good after all, even if the level of the skill wasn't that good. Which is more, I had started a project after charting most of the village. I freed a whole wall in my room and started making a mural-like drawing of the entire village on it, even if it wasn't as detailed as the maps I had already for separated parts.

Soon enough I would have to start making exceedingly elaborate maps or even start again to level the skill. I was leaning towards leaving the skill as it was. The drawings were good enough for me as they were and it would probably level better when working on new things once I started mapping the outside of the village. Entirely new maps would help level up the skill faster. That was my theory, at least. As it was, the skill wasn't bad at all, in my opinion.

**[Cartography – Lvl 14**

**Improves the quality of maps drawn by 70%.]**

'_Not bad at all,'_ I mused before focusing once more on the papers. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that studying Fuinjutsu would be a right headache for me. It wasn't for nothing that Seal Masters were rare, after all.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**One Month Later**

"You are progressing very well, Eiji," Iruka sensei said after what felt like hours of me sitting with a leaf on my face.

**[****Basic Chakra Control Exercises**** has gone up a level.]**

**[Chakra Control has gone up a level.]**

'_That's a long ass name,'_ I thought to myself after reading the skill name, not for the first time. I relaxed my control on the chakra and opened my eyes.

**[Basic Chakra Control Exercises – Lvl 5**

**Increases the chakra control of the user according to level.]**

**[Chakra Control: E+****.****]**

'_The Chakra Control level would be a lot cooler if I knew what it actually does…'_ I fought a grimace while looking at the new stat progress. Chakra Control as a stat was a complete mystery to me as of that moment. Regarding the System side of it, at the very least.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," I replied respectfully. I took a second to breath in deeply and relax my muscles.

"I think we can take the next step and have you start doing the exercise with your eyes open," The scarred teacher commented with a thoughtful frown. "Just don't focus too much in actually seeing at the start. We can work that up as you progress."

"Of course, Sensei," I nodded while picking up the leaf again.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"Aaargh, I hate you, Shika!" I all but whined as I leaned back on my hands and looked over my latest defeat.

"You are getting very good at this, Eiji," Chouza commented from where the adults sat watching us play and chatting between themselves.

"Thanks, Chouza. I try," I replied tiredly. Eventually, I had had to give up and started calling them by their first names, even if it still felt awkward to do so. It felt even more disrespectful to continue denying them their… rather adamant requests, after all.

"Maybe I should take Shikamaru's place?" Shikaku asked with a smirk making me groan. Everyone chuckled good naturedly. I shrugged resignedly.

"Eh, a loss is a loss, might as well add some new things to this," I commented and I swear the Nara Head's eyes shone. Suddenly, I remembered the few times I had played against him. No wonder I kept losing. I was an idiot.

"Remember that you brought this to yourself, Eiji," Shikamaru said from the side with much the same smirk that his father was wearing. I sighed and started playing.

"Naruto is rubbing off on me," I dutifully ignored the 'Oi!' in the background. Soon enough, I was reading a new screen before making it disappear with a thought.

**[Shogi has gone up a level.]**

'_Someday, I'm going to win a match. Someday…'_ I told myself as I moved another piece. Then Shikaku made his own move and I grimaced as I saw my impending doom. _'Not soon though…'_

**[Shogi – Lvl 24**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"For Kami's sake, Ino!" I exclaimed exasperated. "Will you shut up for a second?"

"I mean, I was just wondering-"

"Fine!" I gave up throwing my arms up. "You can come with us tomorrow," I glared as the girl beamed at me, clearly pleased with herself. "But we train, and that's it. You'll only annoy Sasuke if you try to do anything else. He really doesn't like to do small talk."

"I can do that," She blinked as my face turned to disbelief. "I can!" She added with more heat and a frown. I just continued staring at her. I mean, she always complained or at least whined when we had to do the Academy training. Who would blame me for not believing her? "Why are you looking at me like that?" She hissed.

"Well," I started slowly. "besides you never wanting to train?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Her frown intensified. "I mean, come on, Ino. You think we don't hear you during classes? The last thing you want to do is train," And at that, she pouted. "Fine, I'll shut up. But if you annoy Sasuke, I'm never inviting you again. He is a great Taijutsu partner. I like to have him around."

She simply hummed and walked happily back to the desk. I sighed. The girl really was stubborn. She had been annoying me nonstop ever since the Uchiha had started training with us. And considering that I couldn't avoid her since I worked at her family's shop, I had decided that it was a lost battle to continue denying her.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**One Month Later**

**[Intermediate Taijutsu has gone up a level.]**

'_This was a good idea,'_ I mussed with a small grin as I avoided a rather powerful punch from Chouji with a sidestep. Instead of sending a punch of my own as a counter, I had to jump over a low kick from Shikamaru.

I had noticed that my Taijutsu progress had stalled after the Mid-Year Exams. That made a lot of sense considering that no one besides Sasuke was a proper challenge to me when it came down to only hand to hand combat. As such, I had decided to try and fight them two against one.

As I was seeing right then, it was working very well.

A punch of Chouji's eventually found its way to my gut and knocked the wind out of me before Shikamaru's fist connected with the side of my face. A kick, which I didn't know who sent, hit my side and I ended up on the floor. I groaned as I tapped the floor to sign that I gave up. It was great training, but it really upped the difficulty.

"Regretting the decision?" Shika asked with a bored tone and I turned to see him crouching down next to me and resting his cheek on his hand lazily.

"No, but I can't deny that it hurts," He rolled his eyes at me and muttered something that was probably a grumble about my training habits. I ignored him and slowly pushed myself up before taking Chouji's hand and thanking him.

"Well, if you are happy then we'll continue kicking your ass," The Akimichi chuckled and I smiled, taking it as a victory that he didn't apologize or look guilty for the violence involved. He had come a long way from the soft guy he was when we first met.

"I feel the love, gu-"

"We can totally improve your look, Hinata," I turned to see Ino eyeing Hinata up and down, probably going over outfit options on her head. Meanwhile, the shy girl was poking her fingers together and looking everywhere but the Yamanaka. "The boys would fall over themselves once I'm done with you, I promise."

"Y-You think so?" Nobody missed the way her eyes moved towards a certain blond boy that was in a Shurikenjutsu competition with Sasuke. Ino smirked.

"Quite. I'm sure Nar-" That was as far as she got before the Hyuuga girl put a hand over her mouth.

"I-I'm sure we can g-go shopping together sometime, Ino-san."

"Great," The blond girl beamed at her and I smiled at the scene. I was glad that we had another girl for Hinata to interact with. "Naruto! Would you mind coming with us? We might need a boy's opinion!" I suppressed a laugh as I saw Hinata's face go as red as it possible could. I failed to do so though, when I saw Naruto turn with a baffled expression and a 'Huh?'.

"I don't know if she'll be good for Hinata or not," Shikamaru commented with a smirk while standing next to me.

"We'll just have to see," I replied mimicking his expression as we looked at the two blonds talking. Ino seemed to be doing a pretty good job at convincing the confused boy. I was just glad that the girl was acting friendly with Naruto. Maybe the wardrobe change had helped with that.

"So," I turned to look at Shino on my other side. "Is it my turn to spar?"

"Sure thing," I nodded. "Shika, Chouji, have a go at Shino, will you? I'll go look for some drinks."

"I meant-"

"Come on, Shino!" A cheerful Chouji interrupted the Aburame before could finish his sentence and pulled him into the sparing circle. I simply hummed innocently to myself, carefully keeping my eyes away from the totally not panicking Shino.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"I swear to Kami, guys," I grumbled while sitting on the floor and _trying_ to keep a stern expression. Emphasis on trying. "I come here at least once a week, the least you could do is stop tackling me." My only response was a tongue to the face and I sighed as my expression turned to a fond one and I started petting the dogs around me.

"Just give up," Hana said from the side where she sat behind a counter and leaned on a hand. "they love you, and that's it."

"More like they love the food," I countered with a grin, making her shake her head. A bark made me turn to Yuki who was looking at me with a scolding expression. Strange thing considering that she was a dog. "Aw, I love you too, Yuki." She barked again, this time happily. The other dogs, apparently, weren't ones to be shown up.

I had to spend several hours playing, petting and booping dogs and puppies.

I wasn't complaining.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" I turned my head and stared intently towards the classroom board. I felt cold sweat run down my neck and saw everyone else in our group pointedly avoiding Ino's eyes. "Oh Kami, I was…" She realized with horror.

There were a few silent snickers (and not so silent ones in Naruto's case). What was the subject of the conversation? The pink-haired banshee that was currently all over our resident edgy Uchiha. It seemed that the Yamanaka heiress had finally realized just how annoying her previous attitude had been.

"You don't have any ground to stand on, Naruto," She countered, probably trying to save _some_ face. "You were worse than Kiba."

"Hey!" The jinchuuriki protested immediately. "Take that back. That's not true! Right, guys?" This time I looked to the side since the blond boy was sitting right in front of me. "Right… Brother?" He asked (pleaded, more like) me. "Oh Kami, I was…" My whiskered friend slumped in his seat, the same defeated tone coloring his voice.

"Look at the bright side, guys," I said, mustering the will to face both blondes. "you got better," I tried, forcing a smile on my face. I wasn't very successful, apparently, since both smacked their foreheads against their desks.

"A valiant attempt," Shino offered me. "even if it was useless."

"At least I tried," I shot at the bug lover who turned his face away from me.

"Finally," Sasuke said looking at the ceiling when Iruka-sensei walked inside the classroom and forced Sakura to take a seat away from us since the close ones were already occupied. "Thank Kami," The Uchiha heir muttered low enough that only our group heard.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**One Month Later**

**[****Basic Chakra Control Exercises**** has gone up a level.]**

**[Chakra Control has gone up a level.]**

I almost cheered out loud at that and a proud tear almost escaped the corner of my eye.

"You've been doing remarkable progress, Eiji," Iruka-sensei complemented.

'_You don't say,'_ I almost said. And, being completely honest, I thought that was justified. I had never been able to maintain the speed of skill leveling before. But I had this time. It had taken one month to level Basic Chakra Control Exercices (still thought it was a stupidly long name, by the way) five times and it had taken another month to get another five levels. Granted, the last month I had been training on my own too while the first I had been only doing so under supervision, but still.

**[Chakra Control: D-.]**

"I think I can safely say that you can train this on your own during the holidays," I almost felt bad as our teacher said that, since I had already been doing exactly that. "So, with that out of the way," He continued. "this concludes our last Chakra Control class for the year. Good luck on the End of the Year exams next week, Eiji. I expect good results from you."

"I'll have the best results, again. Just you wait," I replied confidently. "Thanks for taking the time to teach me this, Iruka-sensei," I added with a bow. "I won't disappoint you."

"See that you don't," He replied, a fond smile on his scarred face.

"See you tomorrow, sensei," I said, returning the grin as I walked out the classroom.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"Ugh," Naruto groaned as he rested his head on his desk. "My head still hurts. I thought it would get better the second time, y'know," I simply shook my head at him like some of the others, Ino rolled her eyes at her fellow blond.

We had just finished the last part of the End of the Year exams. It had gone surprisingly similar to the Mid-Year ones, actually. Granted, there was more theory to study, but everything else remained the same except that Iruka expected us to do much better. The only change was how good we were at it and me getting better results in the theory test than Sakura. Aside from that, everything else stayed the same.

"Well, we can forget about ever getting first place," Naruto grumbled good-naturedly.

"Not like I cared anyway," Shikamaru replied with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Come on, guys, he can't take first place forever. We'll do better next year!" Ino tried, she truly did. Her only response were incredulous stares, even from Sasuke. I was kinda embarrassed by the unanimous support. It was true that I was very ahead of the rest of them, but still.

"Ino is right," Now everyone turned to Naruto. "Sasuke can't take first place forever, guys. We'll take it from him next year."

Everyone blinked in confusion.

"Hm… Naruto-kun?" Hinata started shyly, which honestly surprised me since she didn't stutter with his name. "Eiji was the one to take first place…"

"Nuh, he doesn't count," The blond boy countered and everyone blinked again.

"True," Shikamaru nodded and I turned to him wide-eyed.

"Makes sense," Shino pushed his shades up.

"Hm, guys?" I started before Sasuke nodded too with a grunt and my jaw fell. "What the hell?!"

"Not what I meant," Ino said weakly. "But good enough," She shrugged. "Now let's go, I can't wait to eat Eiji's celebratory dinner," She continued and the not-so-stoic ones in the group cheered.

"What?" I blinked before growing concerned. "Weren't we going to a restaurant?" I asked as cold sweat that had nothing to do with the tests we had gone through run down my back. "Guys, I really don't want to cook right now-"

I choked when Naruto and Ino turned the puppy dog eyes full power against me. When I looked around for support, the only thing I saw was a sad Hinata, which made me feel even worse.

I sighed.

"Fine."

"Yatta!" Naruto jumped as Ino pumped a fist in victory.

"I just want you to know that I hate you, guys."

"I love you too, brother. Now, let's go!" And with that, both blonds started dragging me towards our house.

**[Quest Complete: Finish the End of the Year Exams in First Place**

**Reward:**

**\+ 1 to all Stats**

**\+ 1 to all Skills]**

'_At least I have this,'_ I grinned to myself, it was especially nice since there were several skills that had become a pain to level or I hadn't been able to level at all, like the Shurikenjutsu skills that now needed moving targets.

"And the best part is that we have two months without classes!" I chuckled at Naruto's exclamation. It seemed that it hadn't fully registered until now.

It would be nice to be able to have some more free time. Having a job and training so much required a lot of time, and that wasn't even including school in. Now I would have more time to visit the dogs- I mean, to train… yeah, that.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**One Month Later**

"I can't believe it," Chouza breathed out.

"Is this real?" Ino asked her parents, who stared silently at the impossibility.

"Would you look at that, dear?" Yoshino pointed out with an amused expression.

"Eiji, you have my eternal respect," Shino said, completely serious.

Me, for my part, could only look at the Shogi board in disbelief.

"It's a draw," Shikamaru said, looking at the pieces with the widest smirk I had ever seen on his face. "Good game," He extended a hand for me to shake, which I did, although my eyes never left the board.

"A draw," I muttered, voice and expression completely neutral. "I… I didn't lose," A grin started to spread on my features before I snorted. "I didn't lose!" My words came out louder this time and I started chuckling. It soon developed into uncontrolled laughter.

"I can't believe it," Ino started shaking her head, completely in shock.

"Eiji is the best!" Naruto easily joined my celebration even if he hadn't gotten what happened until Shika had said it.

"Well, I'll be," Chouji chuckled before elbowing his Nara friend. "It finally happened, huh?"

"Indeed," The lazy bastard agreed easily, still smirking.

"Let's go again," I all but demanded. Even if I started another almost infinite losing streak, this one draw meant everything. There was a chance for me, and that's what I had wanted confirmation for all that time. _'Shogi's level will reach high enough eventually, just you wait, Shikamaru,'_ I thought to myself dramatically.

**[Shogi has gone up a level.]**

**[Shogi – Lvl 30**

**Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]**

'_Eventually.'_

**[}****-o-****{****]**

"Did you have fun?" Hana asked as I walked into her place. A second later, a bunch of dogs walked after me while I held the door open.

"Yeah, it was nice," I replied as the dogs gave their own enthusiastic responses.

"You took longer than I thought," The Inuzuka pointed out with a smirk that told me she knew exactly why. I returned her a sad smile.

Truth was, I had felt bad for them. They didn't get out nearly enough, which was the whole reason why I offered to take them for a walk. Hana needed to stay to take care of those that needed her presence almost constantly. There were also D rank missions to take them for a walk but, apparently, genin preferred to take other tasks. It was easier to do some chore at someone's house than have to put up with an 'annoying mutt'.

I almost growled as I recalled that. _'Once I make genin, half my missions will be to do this,'_ I swore to myself.

"I just hope they won't be too heartbroken when classes start again,"I told the girl behind the counter as we both watched the dogs I had taken out talk/bark to the ones that had had to stay.

"It's better than nothing," She replied, not reassuring me at all, although that was probably not her intention anyway. "I have a feeling you'll start again after you graduate anyway," She smiled my way, gesture that I easily returned.

"Yeah, they are awesome," I shrugged. "And I'll be getting paid for doing what I want. Just hope I'll be able to convince my team of these guys' adorableness."

"I'm sure you'll manage."

"And if I don't, then I'll just have to threaten them," I said and she giggled. Little did she know that I was serious.

"Sometimes I wonder if you are an Inuzuka and you've been hiding that from us," She shook her head still giggling.

"I wish."

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**One Month Later**

**[Skill Maxed: ****Basic Chakra Control Exercises****.]**

**[Chakra Control has gone up a level.]**

**[Chakra Control: D.]**

'_Cool,'_ I thought with a wide grin. _'Can't say I saw the skill maxing at level 15, but cool nonetheless. Didn't unlock the Intermediate though, sadly.'_

Still, I was quite happy with that as it was. In a week it would be a year since I arrived to this world and I was very satisfied with my progress so far. It was slower than I would have thought considering that I had a Gamer System, but it was still good.

I closed my eyes and stretched my arms over my head letting out a content sigh.

As I opened my eyes, I sighed again for a completely different reason. In front of me, on the table sat a light brown folder.

"What've you got for me this time?" I wondered as I opened it and started to read.

My 'assignments' had started to arrive once a month, although exactly _when_ was never predictable. I had taken to them easily though and they had rapidly become part of my routine. They never had anything too concerning, or at all, and I always got a discount or coupon of some kind for a shop that was always nice to have. I was already stacking on supplies for when Naruto and I started actually practicing Fuinjutsu.

We had had to promise the Hokage not to start until he gave the okay, but apparently he trusted me enough to let me buy what we would need in advance. I wasn't about to go behind his back with that. Practicing chakra control was one thing, practicing something as serious and obscure as the art of seals was entirely different, after all.

"Huh?" I finished a second reading of the papers with an amused expression. "A good proposition made by the Civilian Side? Had to happen eventually, I guess."

Soon enough, I found myself setting the folder down after adding a paper giving my opinion about it with a surprisingly low amount of changes. Running a hand through my dark hair tiredly, I decided that it was late enough and I had to go to bed.

_Good job_, said a now familiar note on the table after a second. I let out a wan smile as I picked it up, ripped it to pieces and threw it on the trash bin. No need to keep any proof of whoever it was that was giving me extra 'homework'.

I had yet another surprise waiting for me though. Where there would usually be a simple coupon or something for a ninja shop now sat a group of scrolls. Suddenly fully awake once more, I read through the titles and realized that they were introductory texts to a bunch of things. Most of them covered in detail on the electives we would take once classes started once more.

'_Well, thank you for the extra study material, I guess,'_ I thought to myself as I carried everything to my room. They could be easily explained as me having bought them since they weren't something out of reach for an academy student. They were simply too expensive if one wasn't going to take the electives, not even mentioning that no one bought books or scrolls since the school provided all the necessary materials.

**[}****-o-****{****]**

**[Skill Maxed: ****Physical Conditioning****.]**

**[New Perk Acquired: Poised]**

**[Poised**

**When activating an EP based skill at full Energy Points the user can use EP skills without cost for 10 seconds.**

**Usable once a day.]**

'_Niiiice,'_ I whistled as I read the screens at the end of my work out. _'Now, if only I could get this but with Meditation,'_ I grumbled internally.

Why was I complaining? Well, said skill had been sitting at level 19 for much longer than Physical Conditioning. I had come up with the theory that I needed to fulfill some kind of requirement for the last level. Either that or it was stupidly difficult to max for some reason. I was inclined towards the first option though.

'_It'll happen when it happens,'_ I shrugged tiredly as I made my way inside.

I stopped and raised an annoyed eyebrow as I walked inside and saw that table covered in my brother's calligraphy practice.

"Naruto!" I started shouting before my voice lost all the strength in it. I knew the blonde was asleep already, and waking him up would be more troublesome than anything else. With a sigh, I gathered all the papers, ink and brushes and started putting it away. _'The guy is scarily good. His fuinjutsu teacher will be shocked,'_ I thought with no small amount of pride.

'_I, for my part…'_

**[Calligraphy – Lvl 15**

**Improves the user's writing by 75%.]**

It was good progress, considering how hard it was for me to get the kanjis right. However, I would need it at 100% if I wanted to start with actual fuinjutsu. That meant at least a few more months of practice. That alone had discouraged me from picking the seal art as one of my Electives. If I had to waste a few months just to start with it, it would be a waste.

I could pick that one up at a later date and self-study it. Probably after graduating. It had a lot of potential, but required a lot of time. Time that I didn't have, even if it looked like I did. One year was a lot less than it seemed.

Hence why I had decided for Medical Training and Ninjutsu. The latter was an obvious one, since battle prowess was the most important thing in this world. Without any of the major villains' existences hanging over my head, I _may_ have chosen something less fight oriented. Hell, I might not even have bothered with being a ninja at all. But I needed the power, to protect my life and the lives of everyone I cared about.

Medical Training was added for that last reason too. Tsunade was a scary character, even if she didn't do that much in the end. If I could develop or learn a regenerative jutsu for myself, I could take for myself one of the reasons why Jinchuuriki were so dangerous, their inability to _stay down_. And that wasn't even mentioning creating my own strength, or dexterity, or constitution enhancement jutsu just like Tsunade's.

And thus, Medical Training triumphed over Bukijutsu and Genjutsu, the other two offensive classes. If there had been a Taijutsu class, it may have contended too, but since it was included in the regular curriculum, I didn't have to choose.

'_Talking about that…'_

**[Intermediate Taijutsu (Active) – Lvl 12**

**Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.**

**Active Effect – Increases the user's physical stats by 6.**

**Active Effect Consumption 40 Energy Points per second.]**

'_What a beauty,'_ I thought to myself with a smirk as I made my way to my room after a shower. That skill alone had guaranteed that I would never lose a Taijutsu spar in class, not that I needed to use it often. I would usually just use it for a second at a time in particularly hard match ups like Sasuke (or Kiba since it appeared that the Inuzuka had started training with his family at last).

That wasn't even mentioning when I coupled it with Running and Free Running for extra speed.

**[Free Running (Active) – Lvl 12 **

**When used increases the speed of the user while running by 60%**

**When used increases the distance the user's jump by 60%**

**When used increases the power of the user's arms while maneuvering by 60%**

**Consumption – 14 Energy Points per second]**

Which took me to one of my favorites hobbies/training exercises. Traveling through the village at full speed without ever touching the ground was one of the best activities I had ever taken part in, right next to spending time with the dogs, believe it or not. It was especially funny when I tried to do so while using Stealth be it through the active skill or not and scared the shit out of a civilian or two. Granted, it may not have helped with my already dropping reputation but…

It was still fun.

Maybe I had been spending too much time with Naruto.

**[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 23**

**Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.**

**Consumption 5 Energy Points per second.]**

Yeah, I had gotten entirely too much practice with the skill. To the point that some Chuunin now had trouble keeping track of me. I had finally reached Shino levels of stealth, apparently.

As I entered my room, I looked at the wall opposite to my bed. Covering the entire wall was a beautiful drawing/map of Konoha. It had taken some time, but I had finally finished. It was more art than map, but I still loved that shit. It was the culmination of something that had started as a useless skill that I got when I drew the location of a few shops.

It could be useful for some recon missions and what not but, honestly, that had nothing to do with why I had continued with that. It was a nice hobby to have, really.

It had been a surprise though, when the skill changed from Cartography to Drawing.

**[Drawing – Lvl 15**

**Improves the quality of drawn goods by 75%.]**

However, I preferred it like that since that meant that I could use the skill for much more than just maps. I could now draw landscapes, people or anything else that stroke my fancy.

'_Over all, it's been a very good year.'_

**[Eiji Satou**

**Title: ****Aspiring Prodigy**

**Energy Points: 460/460**

**Chakra Points: 230/230**

**Strength: 23 **

**Dexterity: 25 **

**Constitution: 23**

**Chakra: 23 **

**Chakra control: D]**

'_Very nice indeed.'_

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

2020 has been a bitch, I'm sure everyone knows that. I've had to deal with so much shit that it's not even funny.

But I'm finally back! And for good at that.

I've opened a Pat re on account. So, **if you can't wait to read next chapter** you can go there and read it earlier (depending on tier). You just need to add /AdrianKing after the com.

If you _can_ wait, then you'll get the next chapter in a month and that's a promise, I'm very sure I'll be able to keep a **weekly update schedule**.

Anyway, let's talk about the chapter. As you can see, I decided to do a **time-skip montage** of sorts. I like this much better than just doing a _'5 months later'_ or anything like that. What do you think about that?

**Random Question:** This is completely unrelated to the plot here, but which is your favorite bijuu? Personally, my favorite is the two-tails with the nine-tails as a close second. The one-tails is a solid third too. Most of the others are rather ugly, me thinks.

**See you.**


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